Student hospitalised with burns as fire razes physics laboratory

By RUSHDIE OUDIA

Kisumu, Kenya: Efforts by a student to help put out a fire at Maranda High School saw him hospitalised with serious injuries.

The student was among several others who were trying to save the physics laboratory from being reduced to ashes on Sundaymorning when chemicals spilled on his face.

The fire is said to have started at around 9.30am when students were attending their mass.

The deputy head teacher Saul Wera mobilised students to fight the fire, which was quickly spreading to neighbouring buildings and were later joined by firefighters from Kisumu.

Wera said when he reached near the building, a gas cylinder exploded, prompting him to have the remaining cylinders in the neighbouring chemistry lab moved.

He said the impact from the explosion made the walls of the physics lab to crack.

 “We had to move the cylinders since we feared that the fire would spread to the chemistry lab leading to a disaster,” said Wera.

Chemical bottles

The lab’s roof caved in afterwards, while chemical bottles and other apparatus could be seen strewn on the floor of the building.

Kenya Power officers visited the scene and police also took samples of the debris as investigations into the cause of the fire started.

Maranda principal Boaz Owino said the cause of the fire is not yet known and the extent of the damage could not be established immediately.

“The incident shocked us since it happened during the day when we were in church,” said Owino.

Meanwhile, learning resumed at the institution after the fire had been contained.

Siaya Deputy Governor Onyango Ouma said security would be beefed up around the school even as investigations continued to establish the cause of the fire.

“These students were affected last year by frequent fires and it seems they (fires) have started again,” said Ouma, referring to the two dormitories that were razed last year.

The school also suffered another calamity recently after results for computer students in last year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education were cancelled.