According to an official source, at least 20 children have died in a fire in a school dormitory in Mahdia, a town in central Guyana.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the loss of dear souls as a result of the fire. The death toll now stands at around 20 and several people were injured,” the Guyana Department of Public Information said in a statement.
The high school fire in Mahdia, a town in the center of Guyana, a small country in South America, occurred between Sunday night and today.
Authorities began sending medicines and medical supplies to the area to treat the injured. A total of seven minors are waiting to be transferred by air to Georgetown, the nation’s capital.
At least one plane with three injured arrived in Georgetown, an AFP news agency reporter noted.
Guyanese Prime Minister Mark Phillips formed a team to address the issue and launch a medical plan to care for victims and families.
“We ask the population to continue to pray for the children, their families and the communities in the region,” a government note said.
“This is a huge disaster. It’s terrible, it’s painful,” Guyana’s president Irfaan Ali declared at dawn today, who had already moved to the airport in Georgetown.
“We are organizing medical assistance on a large scale (…) I have also ordered special devices to be organized” in the two main hospitals in the capital “so that every child in need of attention receives the best possible care,” added the head of state .
Private and military planes were sent to Mahdia, about 200 kilometers south of Georgetown, as the region is also hit by heavy rains.
“Our condolences go out to the families and loved ones of those affected by this tragedy,” said Natasha Singh-Lewis, an opposition MP.
“We urge the authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the causes of the fire and provide a detailed report on what actually happened. We need to understand how this horrific and deadly event occurred and all take necessary steps to prevent such a tragedy from happening again in the future.” added Singh-Lewis.
Guyana, a small poor English-speaking country with 800,000 inhabitants and formerly a Dutch and later British colony, has one of the largest oil reserves per capita in the world and expects rapid development in the coming years with the exploitation of these reserves.
Experts estimate that the Guyana-Suriname basin contains about 15 billion barrels of oil reserves associated with important gas deposits.
Source: DN
