Guyana - 20 Secondary School Girls Die in Dormitory Fire

[bluefete]

At least 20 girls perished in Guyana secondary school blaze
15 min ago


Photo courtesy David Papannah/ Stabroek News

Twenty female students of the Mahdia Secondary School were killed after a dormitory blaze started minutes before midnight last night. The fire reportedly began at 11.40 pm in the female dormitory.

The government this morning provided the figure for those killed.

The Government of Guyana issued the following statement this morning:

STATEMENT ON FIRE AT MAHDIA DORMITORY

It is with great sadness that we bring to you a heart-wrenching update on the fire at the dormitory at the Mahdia Secondary school. We have lost many beautiful souls in that fire. The death toll currently stands at 20, while several others received injuries.

Five planes have already taken off to Mahdia to support the regional health officials with additional medical supplies and medivacs. At this moment, seven children are prepared to be medivac to Georgetown.

The Prime Minister is leading a team of cabinet and other officials to Madhia whilst Minister Benn is already on the ground. The president and other officials are supporting efforts at Ogle to receive the critical patients and coordinate an emergency plan of action. A full-scale medical emergency action plan has been launched. We ask that our prayers continue to be with these children, their families, and communities.

Details surrounding the cause of the fire at this time are yet to be determined.

From the information reaching Stabroek News, as the fire ripped through the dormitory several students were trapped inside the building.

Firefighters and public-spirited citizens were on the scene trying to contain the blaze and conduct rescue operations.

News of the tragedy sent shockwaves across the nation as many were awakened by calls and alerts on the tragedy.

The Government of Guyana in a statement issued at 1 am, today said all efforts are being made to have a full-scale medical evacuation-supported response.

The statement stated that The Ministry of Health and the Joint Services have been collaborating to address the situation. However, the inclement weather and heavy overcast conditions are posing severe challenges to this exercise.

Parkinson John, a resident who resides next door to the dormitory this morning told Stabroek News that he assisted in saving at least eight students. According to him, he was the first person to respond to the fire after being alerted by his dogs constantly barking.

“I went over in my underwear alone and tried to save them. On the left side of the building there was only smoke so I rush in and try to get them to exit. The smoke had them bad but I wrap a cloth around my face and run and grab who I can,” John explained. He stated that he made two trips before he had to pull out of the rescue mission due to the high volume of smoke.

He went on to state that if others were brave as him they could have saved more students in a timely manner.

Nonetheless, he stated that persons who responded after him, assisted in trying to open up the grills for the students to escape.

“When I hear the screams I run to get a piece of wood and try to open the grill but I couldn’t do it on my own and the other guys help. They pull who they could have out of the building. Some of the kids were badly burnt…” John who spoke with this publication via phone added.

The first responder and local community hero added that the fire service responded approximately 20 minutes after the blaze started. By then the building was consumed by the inferno.

In a Facebook Live from Mahdia, resident Kyle Smith said that despite the doors being opened after the alarm was raised, students were trapped. It was related that the grills on the windows would have contributed to students being trapped.

Smith in his video stated his wife alerted him to an amber glow in the sky and he later realised it was a fire at the dormitory.

“My wife wake me up and said look how the place looking red red on that one side and it looked so attractive to my eyes. I picked up my phone to take a picture but there and then I realised when people start shouting for help and when I look closely there is fire,” he recounted.

He noted that just after his arrival on the scene, he assisted in taking a student to the Ambulance but many others remained trapped.

He noted that from all indications some students were severely burnt. Those who perished in the fire were badly burnt, it was reported and a few students were found on their beds.

“There isn’t much the fire service could have done because there is just one truck in Mahdia and the lil water it had stored up, they use up and it finishes and the truck gone…about 20 minutes later it returned,” he explained to viewers.

During his live stream, he stated that the roof of the building collapsed and the entire property was engulfed in flames. The rains however arrived some minutes later and helped put out the blaze.

Government in their statement added “It is with heavy heart and pain that the Cabinet is being briefed and kept updated on a horrific fire at the dormitory in Mahdia…Our thoughts and prayers are with our children and their families at this time. We will continue to update as information becomes available.”

Meanwhile, Opposition parliamentarian Natasha Singh-Lewis said her party is deeply saddened by the news of the fire that engulfed the school dormitory in Mahdia, taking the lives of several school children.

“The loss of innocent lives is always a painful and heartbreaking experience, and this incident has left us all with a heavy heart. As a community, we stand in solidarity with the families of the victims, and we offer our sincerest condolences during this difficult time,” she added.

In the same breath, she used the opportunity to call for a thorough investigation from officials into the cause of the fire and for a detailed report to be released to the public on what went wrong.

“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,” Lewis-Singh said as she pointed out that it is a sad day for the country.
https://trinidadexpress.com/newsextra/a ... 1db83.html

[VexXx Dogg]

nah dread.

RIP children.

[Dizzy28]

RIP!!!

Sad!!

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Real sad

[maj. tom]

Terror and such tragedy

[bluefete]

I cannot imagine being in that situation.

A terrible, terrible tragedy.

[Rovin]

hmm what can i say : that real sad .... R.I.P ....

[redmanjp]

very sad and shocking

we have any such dorms here?

with the current state of the fire service (most stations not having a tender) i shudder to think we have a disaster waiting to happen like this.

another thing- burglar proofing- we need burglar proof than can open from inside perhaps with a lock and the key in a known place close by - we have to study fire as well as crime.

[adnj]

very sad and shocking

we have any such dorms here?

with the current state of the fire service (most stations not having a tender) i shudder to think we have a disaster waiting to happen like this.

another thing- burglar proofing- we need burglar proof than can open from inside perhaps with a lock and the key in a known place close by - we have to study fire as well as crime.

NFPA standards cover automated fire protection and egress for all structures, including dormitories.

Trinidad says that they follow the standards. So does Guyana.

[16 cycles]

Condolences

[Dizzy28]

Malicious !!

[maj. tom]

Guyana school fire: Angry student suspected of starting deadly blaze

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-65691848

By James FitzGerald
BBC News
A deadly fire at a school dormitory in Guyana appears to have been started by a pupil who was angry her mobile phone had been confiscated, officials say.

Nineteen people - mostly female students - were killed in the blaze in the South American country in the early hours of Monday.

The dorm was reportedly locked and had covered windows which trapped victims.

The teenage suspect is currently in hospital with burns, and has reportedly admitted to the arson.

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

The fire was started in the bathroom area and eventually tore through the whole building, which was partially made of wood and was housing 57 pupils at the time.

Survivors of the incident in the central town of Mahdia spoke of being woken up in the middle of the night by screams.

The girl is accused of threatening her attack after being disciplined for having a relationship with an older man, according to an Associated Press report.

It has emerged that the dorm administrator - who lost her five-year-old son in the fire - was unable to locate the keys to unlock the door in her state of panic.

Firefighters are said to have resorted to smashing through the walls to help people escape.

But they initially struggled to contain the fire because of bad weather conditions.

As well as the victims who died - most of whom were indigenous girls - several other people were injured.

They were taken to hospital, some of them in the capital Georgetown, and a number of them remain in a serious condition.

Local media reported that the fire was so severe that DNA testing was required to identify some victims.

The fire was earlier labelled a "major disaster" by President Irfaan Ali.

Guyana is located between Venezuela and Suriname on the northern coast of South America.

[redmanjp]

Firefighters are said to have resorted to smashing through the walls to help people escape.

so no fire exits?

[bluefete]

Firefighters are said to have resorted to smashing through the walls to help people escape.

so no fire exits?

NOPE. Look at the building. Old style and locked up with burglar-proof. A death trap waiting to happen.

[pugboy]

boy i heard the guy on the radio saying they are locked in at night to preserve their sexual integrity as they would roam out
i almost dead

[daring dragoon]

is all the obeah catch up to them. leh we see ARD make a video on this.

[aaron17]

I doubt the girl getting charge..seeing how this world upside down

[Chimera]

She gonna get killed

[maj. tom]

The suspect, who is among several injured people, had been disciplined by the dorm administrator for having an affair with an older man, National Security Adviser Gerald Gouveia said.



The student had allegedly threatened to torch the dorm and later set a fire in a bathroom area, Gouveia said.

The fire raced through the wood, concrete and iron-grilled building after it was locked for the night by the dorm administrator — or house mother — to prevent the girls from sneaking out, Gouveia said.

"She did this out of love for them. She felt she was forced to do so because many of them leave the building at night to socialize," Gouveia told The Associated Press. "This is a very sad situation, but the state is going to work with the students and the families to provide all the support they need."

All but one of the victims were Indigenous girls aged 12 to 18 from remote villages served by the boarding school in Mahdia, a mining community near the Brazil border. The remaining victim was the five-year-old son of the house mother.

"The house mother was asleep at the time inside the building but panicked and could not find the right keys to unlock the building from inside, but she made it out. She also lost her five-year-old child in the fire," Gouveia said.

Many of the nine people hospitalized victims are in serious condition.

Police were expected to charge the man who had the relationship with the student with statutory rape because she was under 16, Gouveia said.

Guyana's government has accepted offers from the U.S. to send forensic and other expert teams to help with the investigation, Gouveia said. The government also was sending specialists in DNA identification to help identify remains of 13 of the 19 victims who died at the scene.











Madhia is a gold and diamond mining town about 200 miles from the capital, Georgetown.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/guyana-school-fire-mahdia-girls-dorm-suspect-upset-phone-confiscated/

[The_Honourable]

Da faq I just read...

RIP...

[VexXx Dogg]

I mean running away to tek man is one thing.
Killing yuh clip for Lolo is some Jim Jones level sheit.

If this is the case, she should be tried as an adult and get the max dose of whatever justice is in Guyana. The man go make a small jail for underage, and the possibility exists he instigate it - so investigate that angle too

[ruffneck_12]

Firefighters are said to have resorted to smashing through the walls to help people escape.

so no fire exits?

Guyana still backward in some ways tbh.

Building codes very lax over here, so imagine for over there.

The least they cuda do is have a fire exit wired to an alarm for real dread. Or maybe a trusted person in the building to open up in case.

Cuz wa go happen if the House Mother ketch a stroke or loss she keys?

[Chimera]

I mean running away to tek man is one thing.
Killing yuh clip for Lolo is some Jim Jones level sheit.

i mean shes a child and probably just act out thinking just a bed or two would burn up and not thinking the dormitory provider cant find the key, not thinking the fire truck only have one load of water, not thinking all her friends gonna die.......

but i sure that she and her man and the dormitory mother gonna find themselves on the end of street justice.

they gonna get murdered by the families of the deceased

[Dizzy28]

This wasn't just Guyana..that town is in the jungle 300kms from Georgetown. Building standards probably not the most pressing issue there.

Firefighters are said to have resorted to smashing through the walls to help people escape.

so no fire exits?

Guyana still backward in some ways tbh.

Building codes very lax over here, so imagine for over there.

The least they cuda do is have a fire exit wired to an alarm for real dread. Or maybe a trusted person in the building to open up in case.

Cuz wa go happen if the House Mother ketch a stroke or loss she keys?

[ruffneck_12]

This wasn't just Guyana..that town is in the jungle 300kms from Georgetown. Building standards probably not the most pressing issue there.

Firefighters are said to have resorted to smashing through the walls to help people escape.

so no fire exits?

Guyana still backward in some ways tbh.

Building codes very lax over here, so imagine for over there.

The least they cuda do is have a fire exit wired to an alarm for real dread. Or maybe a trusted person in the building to open up in case.

Cuz wa go happen if the House Mother ketch a stroke or loss she keys?

Okay, that sheds some light on the situation.

But even still, when I was across there, I saw relllll ratch ting

Their highway walkovers have MF elevators though, I'll give them that. That's gangsta af

[Chimera]

our walkover by wrightson road have a elevator. thats our only new walkover (not counting sealots)

but yeah the building codes in guyana amazing lol....the funniest thing is the electricity work.....

[ruffneck_12]

our walkover by wrightson road have a elevator. thats our only new walkover (not counting sealots)

but yeah the building codes in guyana amazing lol....the funniest thing is the electricity work.....

oh srrrrrrrs? Long time meen had to traverse the Vagrant's Urinal that is Port of Spain

but yeah dawgggg, some houses still using Fuses for some reason. And Generator sales big over there because blackouts are common

[maj. tom]

GUYANA’s media are reporting that police there have received instructions to charge the 15-year-old girl who allegedly set the female dormitory of the Mahdia Secondary school on fire with 19 counts of murder.

A report from Guyana’s media outlet, the News Room, said they were reliably informed that the file was sent to the police with recommendations that the girl faces a murder charge for each life claimed in the horrific fire.

She is likely to face the courts early in the new week, the report said,
https://newsday.co.tt/2023/05/28/guyanese-student-15-to-be-charged-for-horrific-school-fire/

[Chimera]

surprised they hitting her murder charges rather than involuntary manslaughter

[Les Bain]

surprised they hitting her murder charges rather than involuntary manslaughter

Good.
In Trinidad she would have been sent to YTC to learn courses til she reach 30, then find ways to be kept there.