TWO dormitories at Maranda High School in Bondo district were yesterday burnt down. Properties worth thousands of shillings were destroyed during the incident which started at 6 am. This brings the number of burnt dormitories to four in less than six months.

According to the school deputy principal Bob Otieno, students were attending morning assembly when they noticed smoke coming from the dormitories prompting them to rush to the scene.

Otieno added that students in the company of a few teachers managed to put out the fierce fire which burnt beds, books and other personal effects belonging to the students.

He however confirmed that nobody was injured during the two-hour fire incident which paralysed normal learning at the institution. He added that the 160 bed capacity dormitories could have been rescued had the fire fighting engine arrived on time from Kisumu.

"We called the fire fighting engine immediately after noticing the smoke but apparently it arrived one and a half hours later," added Otieno.

The deputy principal maintained that the cause of the fire was yet to be established adding that a committee has been constituted to look into the cause of the incident.

Similar earlier incidents which occurred between 16-20th September last year according to Otieno,were suspected to have been caused by an electric fault.

Bondo police boss Paul Kiarie could not be reached for comment as he was busy held up in a meeting following the incident, which shocked students and area residents.