NAIROBI, Kenya — Prosecutors in Kenya have prepared murder charges against students accused of starting a dormitory fire in May that killed 16 girls at a secondary school, officials said Tuesday.

The May 28 fire tore through a dormitory housing 202 students at the Utumishi Girls School in central Kenya, and students were forced to flee through a single doorway when the school matron failed to open an emergency exit.

Police later arrested nine suspects, and said they started the fire by setting a mattress ablaze near an exit.

The suspects, who are being held in custody for a 21-day period of investigation, will be formally charged in court, Kenya’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said.

The office also expressed concern over what it said was an increase in fires reported at schools across the country, and said those liable would be held responsible.

In early June, the Kenya Red Cross reported that it had responded to 37 school fire incidents since the beginning of the year.

Last month, Kenya’s Education Ministry suspended the principal of Utumishi Girls School for failing to comply with school fire safety regulations.

The ministry also said that it had closed more than 300 schools following a 2024 fire tragedy that killed 21 boys in central Kenya.

Fires as schools are a major concern in Kenya because classrooms and dormitories are often crowded, and there’s usually no firefighting equipment in place. Officials sometimes cite poor electrical connections as the cause of blazes.

Kenya’s deadliest school fire in recent history occurred in 2001 when 67 students died in a dormitory fire in Machakos County.