19 Students Killed In School Dormitory Fire

Authorities in Guyana said that a nighttime fire ripped through a dormitory, killing at least 19 students and wounding a number more at a boarding school serving rural, primarily indigenous towns.

“This is a horrific incident. It’s tragic. It’s painful,” Irfaan Ali, a local, described the situation. He said its distressing and added that his administration was mobilizing all available resources to provide for the kids.

According to a statement from the government, the fire started just before midnight in the dormitory building of a secondary school in Mahdia, a gold- and diamond-mining town some 200 miles south of Georgetown.

Fire officials eventually lowered the death toll from the initial 20 kids to 19, with a number of others suffering injuries.

An extremely critical patient who “everyone thought was dead” was brought back to life by medics, according to national security adviser Gerald Gouveia, who claimed that the estimate was changed.

According to a statement from Guyana’s Fire Service, the building was already entirely engulfed in flames when firefighters got on the site.

We send our deepest condolences to the families and friends of those innocent children.

According to the department, 14 pupils passed away at the site and five more did so at a nearby hospital. Four children had significant injuries, according to officials, and two kids remain in critical condition.

Five pupils are still being treated at a hospital in Mahdia, while six students were airlifted to Georgetown for treatment with another 10 under observation.

“Firefighters did manage to rescue some 20 students by breaking holes in the north-eastern wall of the building,” the department said.

“Our team is still on the ground investigating as we seek to provide clarity regarding how the fire started and all other necessary information.

The school serves mostly indigenous children aged 12 to 18, Mr Gouveia said.

He said it was too early to speculate about what might have caused the fire, adding that heavy thunderstorms in the area posed a challenge to those responding by air.

“It was a battle for us. The pilots were very brave, very determined,” he said.

He added that the government and emergency responders “made a gigantic effort” to save as many people as possible.

Mr. Ali said officials were contacting parents and mobilizing psychologists to help deal with those affected by the fire.

“I cannot imagine the pain right now of the parents. This is a major disaster,” he said.

According to the local newspaper Stabroek News, the fire started in a dormitory for girls.

The opposition party, APNU+AFC, also released a statement in which it expressed its desire for a thorough investigation and thanked the locals for their assistance in assisting authorities in rescuing the trapped children.

Natasha Singh-Lewis, an opposition lawmaker, stated that “we need to understand how this most horrific and deadly incident occurred and take all necessary measures to prevent such a tragedy from happening again in the future.”