Kenyan prosecutors say they are preparing to charge several students with the murder of their schoolmates following a suspected school arson attack last month.

Sixteen pupils, aged between 15 and 18, died and dozens more were injured when a fire broke out in a dormitory at Utumishi Girls’ School in Gilgil, about 120km (77 miles) north-west of the capital, Nairobi.

Eight students were later arrested after police said they may have been involved in starting the fire by setting mattresses alight near an exit.

“Upon careful assessment of the evidence, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has approved charges against the implicated students,” the state prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The 28 May fire tore through the upper floor of a dormitory containing 135 bunk beds and housing 202 students, forcing them to flee through a single doorway after the emergency exit failed to open.

After interviews with students and staff and a forensic review of CCTV footage, eight pupils at the school were identified as “persons of interest in connection with the planning and execution” of the fire, police said.

The suspects, who are being held in custody, are due to be formally charged in court on Friday, said the Office of the DPP on Wednesday following a court hearing in the central town of Naivasha.

“The suspects will face sixteen (16) counts of murder arising from the incident,” the ODPP had said earlier.