Kyanguli fire: A survivor’s pain and loyalty 18 years on

On March 26 every year, Mr Joseph Kimau visits his former school, Kyanguli Mixed Secondary School in Machakos County. The school has now been renamed Kyanguli Memorial Secondary School.

On each occasion, he lays flowers on the mass grave of his former colleagues who perished in a deadly fire tragedy at the school in 2001.

On Monday, we bumped into Mr Kimau, a survivor of the tragedy that left 67 students dead and many others scarred for life.

“The event happened 18 years ago but it is still fresh in my mind. I can still recall the screams for help, confusion and death of colleagues who only hours earlier had shared lunch, dinner and were looking forward to a bright morning,” Mr Kimau said during an interview with the Sunday Nation.

Mr Kimau, 34, works as an accountant with a tour company in South Coast.

PROFESSIONALS

He was in the dormitory when the fire started and was lucky to have survived the horrific incident when, only 20 minutes after getting out of the burning dormitory, the roof caved in, trapping his colleagues inside.

He believes the tragedy robbed the country of a generation that would have contributed to its development in a big way.

“In that grave lies doctors, engineers, teachers, lawyers and many other professionals who would have shaped the destiny of this country. They had high hopes in life and the image of them screaming and then dead silent still haunts me to date,” Mr Kimau, who was a Form Two student at the time, said.

“I always find time every March to go and lay flowers in memory of my departed colleagues. It is a terrible thing to remember,” he said, pain etched on his face.

SKIN DAMAGE

The event, he adds, changed his perception about life after spending two weeks in hospital where he was treated for severe burns in various parts of his body.

He returned to the school in 2003 and finished his studies. Mr Kimau went through a skin repair on his face and parts of his body such that he cannot walk for long in the sun.

“This is not my original skin. This was repaired and I have a special lotion that I must apply everyday. I cannot stay for long in the sun. These are some of the changes that were caused by the incident,” he said.

Mr Kimau relates the chain of events that culminated in the deadly inferno.

Before the fire incident, leaflets had been scattered around the compound notifying the students that the principal was not wanted in that school.

PLOT

It came days after the cancellation of the school’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination results.

“We saw the leaflets almost everywhere in the dormitory and in the dining hall. There had been another attempt to burn the library but it was thwarted by night guards at the school.

“Sadly, the plan to burn the dormitory was mooted in secrecy because no one knew about it. I only woke up at around 1am and it was raining heavily outside, only to find the dormitory on fire,” Mr Kimau recalled.

When he saw that the door was open, he dashed through the tongues of flames and managed to get out.

“I was in Cubicle Six. Everyone was running, yelling and calling for help.

CONGESTED DORM

Once outside the building, he remembered that his colleagues were still trapped inside the dormitory but there was little he could do.

“Within minutes, the roof caved in and there was deathly silence. My colleges had died. I had never seen such a thing. It should never happen,” he said.

He said the dormitory was congested and students shared beds. There were grills on the doors and windows which, coupled with absence of fire extinguishers, made escape difficult.

“I now have two fire extinguishers in my house. After what I went through, I decided to buy the extinguishers for use in case of a fire,” he said.