Inside the compound of Utumishi Girls Academy in Gilgil, Nakuru County, grief settled heavily as distraught parents streamed through the school gates after receiving midnight phone calls about a dormitory fire that had torn through the public senior school overnight.

For many families, Thursday became a day of agony and heartbreak after the blaze killed 16 students and injured dozens more in one of Kenya's deadliest school fire tragedies in recent years.

The fire broke out early on Thursday morning in a dormitory on the first floor of the girls' boarding school, where most students are teenagers, triggering panic as students scrambled to escape the flames, according to local authorities.

The exact causes of the fire are under investigation, as authorities are making their best efforts to treat the seriously injured students.

President William Ruto also conveyed his condolences, describing the incident as a national tragedy.

"No words can truly ease the pain of losing young lives filled with promise, hope and dreams for the future," he said in a statement.

Kenya's Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba announced the temporary closure of the school and the formation of a multiagency team to investigate the incident.

He said the school had an enrollment of 815 students, with 808 present at the time of the fire. Of those, 79 were injured in the fire. Most of them have since been treated and discharged, while seven remain hospitalized as of Thursday.

Simon, who works at the Kenyatta Barracks in Nakuru and had come to pick up the daughter of a friend serving in Somalia, said the tragedy had left many families devastated.

"The challenge was that there was only one entrance and the fire appeared to have started near the main exit," he said.

"My friend has been calling me repeatedly from Somalia, asking about his child. I have not yet found her," he said on Thursday afternoon. He declined to give his full name.

Nearby, the mother of a student at the school struggled to contain her emotions as she described searching hospitals and speaking to police officers in an effort to locate her daughter.

"I have gone to hospitals and asked for information, but I still do not know where she is," she said.

The Kenyan authorities have arrested eight students on suspicion of arson in connection with the fire, police said on Friday. "Preliminary investigations have identified eight students as persons of interest in connection with the planning and execution of the suspected arson attack," the Directorate of Criminal Investigations said in a statement. The tragedy has renewed scrutiny of safety standards in Kenyan boarding schools, where previous dormitory fires in recent years have prompted repeated calls for stricter enforcement of fire prevention measures and emergency preparedness.

Agencies contributed to this story.

sharon@chinadailyafrica.com