Fire at student dormitory in Guyana leaves at least 20 dead

A fire in a student dormitory in Guyana killed at least 20 people on Monday, the 22nd, the government said in a statement. “It is with great sadness that we report a shocking update on the Mahdia High School dormitory fire. The death toll has risen to 20 and there are several injured,” says the official government note, without mentioning the causes of the fire. “Several people were injured”, highlighted the Executive, before announcing that five planes were sent to Mahdia to help the regional health authorities to distribute additional medical supplies and carry out sanitary evacuations. “The president and other authorities support the efforts made at Ogle (Georgetown airport, capital) to receive critically ill patients and coordinate an emergency action plan,” said the government, which asked people to “continue praying for these children, their families and their communities”. The fire occurred in a student residence in Mahdia, a mining town in the center of this small country, located in the north of Brazil and which also borders Venezuela and Suriname. Guyana, a small English-speaking nation of 800,000 inhabitants, formerly a Dutch and British colony, has the largest per capita oil reserves in the world, whose exploitation is still incipient. “We are wholeheartedly with the families and relatives of those who have been affected by this tragedy,” said Natasha Singh-Lewis, an opposition MP. “We ask the authorities to do a thorough investigation into the causes of the fire and a detailed report of what really happened,” she added. President Irfaan Ali called the accident a major catastrophe. “It’s terrible, painful,” he declared. “We started large-scale medical rescue services, I also ordered special devices” in the capital’s two large hospitals “so that all children who need help receive the best possible care,” he added. Mahdia is located about 200 kilometers south of Guyana’s capital and its region has been affected by heavy rains.