NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) — Kenyan prosecutors said Tuesday they will charge a number of students with the murder of 16 schoolmates in the burning of a dormitory in late May that shocked the East African country.

Sixteen pupils, aged between 15 and 18, died and 132 were injured in a fire that broke out shortly after midnight on 28 May in a dormitory at the Utumishi Girls’ School in Gilgil, about 100 kilometres north (62 miles) of Nairobi.

Nine pupils from the school, which mainly caters for the children of police officers, are still in police custody. Most of them were arrested the day after the tragedy on charges of arson.

“Upon careful assessment of the evidence, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has approved charges against the implicated students,” the statement said.

A spokesperson for the prosecutors office said the suspects would likely be charged in court on Wednesday, but declined to say how many would be charged or provide other details because they are minors.

The charged suspects will each face 16 counts of murder, the statement said.

Kenya has already experienced countless deadly dormitory fires, with no fewer than 47 such fires recorded in 2026 alone by the Kenyan Red Cross.

Several other fires have broken out since the one in Utumishi, and dozens of boarding schools have sent their pupils home to prevent similar disasters.

Experts point to copycat attacks, but also to years of pent-up frustration with an under-resourced and extremely demanding education system.