Angry Kenyans mourned the victims from recent bus and fire tragedies yesterday, and demanded better safety in schools and on roads.

Sixty-nine boys burned to death when fire ripped through the Kyanguli secondary school dormitory near Machakos, 30 miles from Nairobi, on March 26. Days later, two buses collided on a bridge and plunged into a river, killing at least 33 people.

Fifty-eight of the fire victims were buried in six mass graves at their school yesterday. At the same time, hundreds of miles to the south-east, many of the bus crash victims were buried in on the banks of the River Sabaki, where the twisted wreckage was pulled from the floodwaters. Relatives blamed late rescuers, poor roads and unroadworthy buses for the tragedy.

Kenya's newspapers said the tragedies had a common thread - a lack of respect for safety at all levels of the state. The Daily Nation said that the toll of major disasters reads like a telephone number".

Police are investigating claims that an arsonist may have started the blaze at Kyanguli secondary school. But the tragedy was magnified by overcrowding, barred windows and blocked escape routes.

President Daniel arap Moi acknowledged that school safety procedures had not been respected.
Reuters, Machakos