At least 19 teenagers die in Guyana student house fire

The fire broke out on Sunday night in the dormitory of the student residence of this city located in the center of the South American countrylocated in the north of Brazil and also borders Venezuela and Suriname.

“Fourteen youths died on the spot, five died in Mahdia district hospital. Two minors remain in critical condition while four are seriously injured,” the fire service said in a statement Monday morning, killing 19 and injuring 21.

The fire broke out in a school building in the small town of Mahdia, about 200 km south of Guyana’s capital, and the region was hit by heavy rainfall.

Six injured “were airlifted to Georgetown” while “five others remain in hospital in Mahdia and another ten are under observation,” the same source said.

In an earlier report, the government had reported 20 deaths in this fire, the origin of which is still unknown.

Young people from “11-12 to 16-17 years old” lived in the residence, This is reported by a source who supervised the assistance and asked for anonymity. The building was consumed by flames. The tin roof collapsed, leaving only the blackened walls.

The government said five planes have taken off to Mahdia to provide additional medical care.

“The president and other officials support efforts being made at Ogle (Georgetown’s capital airport) to receive patients in critical condition and coordinate an emergency action plan,” the government said, urging it to “continue to pray for those children, their families and their communities.

“This is a great catastrophe. It is terrible, painful,” the president, Irfaan Ali, said at the airport.

Many children among the victims

“We have launched large-scale medical rescue services […]I have also ordered special facilities to be adopted” in the two major hospitals in the capital “so that all children who need help receive the best possible care,” he added.

A security source explained to AFP that there were “many deaths and injuries” and stressed that the victims were “children” and asked for anonymity.

Guyana, a former Dutch and British colony, is a small English-speaking nation with a population of 800,000.