Tragic fire in Guyanese Dormitory, 19 lives lost

Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

#Guyana, May 30, 2023 – Hearts are aching for the tragic loss of 19 children in a deadly school dormitory fire in Guyana, which a female student is suspected to have started after her cell phone was taken away by the dorm’s mother and a teacher according to a police statement.

The fire started while students were asleep;  several of them were woken up by screams, according to the police.

It destroyed the Mahdia Secondary School and the 19 lives lost include 18 girls and a young boy.

However, despite the fact that when the firefighters arrived the building was already engulfed in flames, they were able to rescue 20 students by breaking down part of the building’s north eastern wall.

During the fire, which started in the bathroom and then consumed the whole building, police say 57 female students were in the dormitory which they described as a flat concrete building measuring about 100 feet by 40 feet, with barred windows.

Also, the dorm is said to have been locked and had covered windows which would have trapped the students.

However, authorities have not revealed whether the students had difficulty evacuating the building; but it is reported that the dorm administrator – who is suffering the loss of her five year old son, couldn’t locate the keys to unlock the door due to panic.

Those injured as well as those who died, mostly indigenous girls, as the school housed children from indigenous communities from the wider area, were taken to the hospital, some of them still in serious condition.

The teenage suspect, is also currently hospitalized with burns, is accused of threatening her attack after she was confronted and disciplined for being in a relationship with an older man, as reported by the Associated Press, hence the possible reason her phone was taken.

Authorities are now taking advice on whether to charge her, according to a government source who spoke to the AFP news agency.

Local Guyanese media reports that the blaze, which firefighters took over three hours to contain, was so severe that DNA testing was needed to identify some of the victims.

Mohamed Ifran Ali, Guyana’s President has declared three days of national mourning in response to the tragedy that occurred on Sunday May 21st, 2023.