A devastating fire claimed the lives of 19 young individuals, including a five-year-old boy, and inflicted injuries on several others.
The event took place on Sunday, May 21, at the Mahdia Secondary School in Guyana. It is believed that a 14-year-old girl, whose phone was confiscated due to an inappropriate relationship with an older man, deliberately started the fire in a locked dormitory, resulting in the tragic loss of 19 young lives.
The girl, who allegedly threatened to burn down the building after her phone was taken, is considered the primary suspect behind the deadly arson. The National Security Adviser, Gerald Gouveia, revealed that she sustained injuries in the fire and will be sent to juvenile detention once discharged from the hospital.
Unfortunately, most victims were unable to escape the raging fire due to the dormitory’s secured doors and barred windows. Gouveia further informed that the dormitory supervisor had locked the facility to prevent the girls from leaving at night to socialize. Although she managed to escape the fire, the supervisor was unable to unlock the doors from inside amidst the chaos.
The horrifying screams of the girls trying to escape the blazing building startled the local residents, causing a wave of terror in the community.
The victims primarily belonged to Indigenous communities located close to Mahdia, a mining town near the Brazilian border. The deceased also included the dormitory supervisor’s young son. The extreme condition of the fire left 13 victims so severely burned that identification became a complex process. Consequently, Guyana has welcomed support from the United States and other countries offering forensic experts to assist in DNA identification.
In the course of this investigation, the authorities expect to charge not only the teen suspect but also the older man involved in the inappropriate relationship. The charges likely to be brought against him include statutory rape, as stated by Gouveia. The Guyana Police Force will further seek advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions as the investigation proceeds.