Gas Leak At Mombasa School Disrupts KCSE Exams, 8 Candidates Faint
The incident was reported to have temporarily disrupted the Kiswahili examination the students were sitting for
Marvin Chege 
A gas leak occurred on Thursday morning, November 7 in Makande Girls Secondary School in Mombasa County, leading to the fainting of eight Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) candidates at the school.
The incident was reported to have temporarily disrupted the Kiswahili examination the students were sitting for, with the tragedy seeing the gas leak engulfing a large part of the examination centre.
Mombasa County Chief Fire Officer Ibrahim Basafar, who confirmed the incident, revealed that response teams moved into action following a distress call from the learning institution.
"It was around 7:15 a.m. when we received a distress call that there was a gas that had been detected at Makande Girls Secondary School and we activated our teams. We activated firefighters and rescue teams," Basafar remarked.
Makande Girls Secondary School. /FILE
He added that a multi-agency team was sent to the ground and that five of the students were taken to Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital.
"The amount of gas as we speak now has gone low and is no longer poisonous or dangerous to anyone, but we had ferried five students to Coast General Hospital after fainting following the incident. We are going to cordon the area," Basafar explained.
At the same time, he noted that investigative agencies are investigating the cause of the gas leak and anyone found culpable shall be brought to justice.
"We will investigate and once we get to know who is the culprit, definitely will take action because the authorities are here. We can confirm that we are safe now but it is just unfortunate that those were KCSE candidates who were doing their examinations. We are sorry," Basafar added.
Following the incident, other students who were sitting for the national examination at the school were transferred to the nearby Makande Boys Secondary School to continue with the test. The affected candidates are stable in the hospital and are expected to resume exams on Thursday afternoon.
This latest incident has sparked worry concerning the safety of students sitting for this year's KCSE examinations. Currently, the theory exams are on their fourth day.
Kicking off on Monday, the examinations began with a tragedy reported in Meru where a male KCSE candidate registered in Tigania West constituency passed away at midnight just hours before he was expected to sit for the examination.
On day 2, Tuesday, November 6, another KCSE candidate from Ebubere Secondary School in Mumias collapsed and passed away while inside the examination room awaiting to sit his mathematics paper that was to start at 8:00 am.
Other major incidents that often mar the KCSE process have also been reported this year including several births by girls sitting for their examinations.
On day one alone, three deliveries were reported in different parts of the country and reports keep trickling in.
By day three, 27 candidates were confirmed to be sitting for their examination in hospitals for both pregnancies as well as other medical conditions.
