World News | Fire destroys school dormitory in Guyana, kills at least 19 children, many Aboriginal

GEORGE TOWN, May 22 (AP) — An overnight fire ripped through Guyana’s dormitory early Monday, killing at least 19 students and injuring many others, at a boarding school for remote, Mainly indigenous villages.

“It’s a terrible event. It’s tragic. It’s painful,” President Irfan Ali said, adding that his government was mobilizing all possible resources to care for the children.

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The fire broke out shortly before midnight in a secondary school dormitory building in the southwestern border town of Mahdia, a gold and diamond mining community about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of the capital, George Town, the government said in a statement. ), the government said in a statement.

Officials initially said 20 students were killed, but later updated the toll to 19, with several others wounded.

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National security adviser Gerald Gouveia said the figure was revised after doctors revived a critically ill patient who “everyone thought was dead”.

“By the time firefighters arrived on scene, the building was completely engulfed in flames,” the Guyana Fire Service said in a statement.

“Our heartfelt sympathies go out to the relatives and friends of those young souls.”

Fourteen students died at the scene and five others died at a local hospital, the department said. Two children remained in critical condition and four were seriously injured, officials said. Six students were airlifted to George Town for treatment, while five others remained at a hospital in Mahdia and 10 others were under observation.

“Firefighters did manage to rescue approximately 20 students by punching holes in the northeast wall of the building,” the department said.

“Our teams are still on the ground investigating as we try to clarify how the fire started and all other necessary information.”

Gouveia said the school primarily caters for Aboriginal children aged 12 to 18. He said it was too early to speculate on the cause of the fire, adding that severe thunderstorms in the area posed challenges for air rescuers.

“This is a battle for us,” he said. “The pilot was very brave, very determined.”

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

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

“I can’t imagine the pain my parents are going through right now,” he said.

“It’s a major disaster.”

Local newspaper Stabroek News reported that the fire broke out in the girls’ dormitory.

The opposition party APNU+AFC also issued a statement saying it would seek a thorough investigation and thanked people in the small community for helping authorities rescue the trapped children.

“We need to understand how this most horrific and deadly incident happened and take all necessary steps to prevent such tragedies from happening again in the future,” opposition MP Natasha Singh-Lewis said. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)