The memorial service for the 21 boys who died at Hillside Endarasha Academy dormitory fire on September 5th will be held next week on Wednesday 25 September, acting Central Regional Commissioner Pius Murugu has confirmed.
Speaking to KNA, Murugu said that the interdenominational prayer service will be held at the Mweiga Stadium and thereafter the bodies will be released to the bereaved parents for burial. “The Hillside Academy Fire Disaster Management Committee has settled for Wednesday next week as the day for the Memorial service for the 21 boys who died in the fire,” said Murugu.
Murugu has maintained that the government will foot all burial expenses for the affected families. He said that the committee will be meeting today, Friday 20th to firm up on the finer details of the service which will start in the morning hours.
During the meeting, the committee will also finalize the burial plans for the victims of the inferno with the Administrator revealing that the government will facilitate the families in transporting and burying their loved ones.
Earlier in the week, the acting Regional Commissioner revealed that a majority of the victims of the inferno hailed from Kieni-East sub-county while others hail from Nakuru, Nairobi, Embu and Meru counties. He said that at the end of the DNA matching process, the committee would release the names of the victims who died when their dormitory caught fire.
“The committee will hold another meeting to finalize the memorial service and burial arrangements because we expect the victims to be buried after the service,” he said. Chief Government Pathologist, Dr Johansen Odour, informed journalists that all 21 bodies of the pupils had been successfully matched to their parents through DNA matching.
“We have the pleasure to announce that we have received DNA results of the 21 victims of the fire which took place at Endarasha Hillside Academy. From the results we have, it indicates that the students are children of the parents who match with all of the 21,” said Dr Oduor during a press briefing at the Naro Moru Level IV hospital.
Dr Oduor also informed journalists that the process of contacting the bereaved parents for the purposes of handing over the remains had started. He said that the process is being undertaken by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations together with the Kenya Red Cross.
“We are now in the process of contacting the relatives. We have a team made of DCI and Red Cross so that we can have them come over and unite them with their loved ones a we are preparing for the next process of assisting them in how they are going to bury them,” he said.