19 killed in Guyana school blaze

Georgetown, May 22

A nighttime fire raced through a dormitory in Guyana early Monday, killing at least 19 students and injuring several others at a boarding school catering to remote, mostly Indigenous villages, authorities said.

“This is a horrific incident. It’s tragic. It’s painful,” President Irfaan Ali said, adding that his government was mobilising all possible resources for the children.

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

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

National Security Adviser Gerald Gouveia said the figure was revised after doctors revived a very critical patient that “everyone thought was dead”. “When firefighters arrived on the scene, the building was already completely engulfed in flames,” Guyana’s Fire Service said.

“Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to the relatives and friends of those young souls.” The department said 14 students died at the scene and five others at a hospital. Officials said two children remain in critical condition and four have severe injuries. — Reuters