It was in the mining town of Mahdia, in central Guyana, that the tragedy took place. A fire broke out in a school dormitory, killing nineteen people, the majority of them children. “It is with great sadness that we present to you a heartbreaking update on the Mahdia Secondary School dormitory fire,” the Guyanese government said in a statement on the night of Sunday 21 to Monday 22. May, without yet being able to specify the causes of the disaster.
Nineteen “youths” died in a school dormitory fire in central Guyana, Mahdia, according to a report from firefighters Monday morning. “Fourteen young people died on the spot, while five died at the Mahdia district hospital. Two children remain in critical condition, while four suffer serious injuries,” according to a fire department statement. The government said five planes have already taken off for Mahdia to help regional health officials provide additional medical equipment and carry out medical evacuations.
“The President and other officials are supporting efforts at Ogle (Georgetown Airport) to accommodate patients in critical condition and coordinate an emergency response plan. A full-scale medical emergency action plan has been initiated,” according to the text, which “asks to continue to pray for these children, their families and their communities.” At least one plane with three evacuees arrived in Georgetown, noted an AFP journalist.
“This is a major disaster. It’s horrible, it’s painful,” President Irfaan Ali had previously said from the airport where he had gone to wait for help. “We are implementing large-scale medical relief […] I have also ordered that special arrangements be made” in the two major hospitals in the capital “so that every child who needs attention receives the best possible care “, he added.
A security source told AFP on condition of anonymity that there were “many dead and wounded”, stressing that the victims were “children”. Mahdia is located about 200 kilometers south of Georgetown while the region is affected by heavy rains.
“Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those affected by this tragedy,” said Natasha Singh-Lewis, Opposition MP. “We call on the authorities to carry out a thorough investigation into the causes of the fire and to provide a detailed report on what really happened. We must understand how this horrific and deadly event happened and take all necessary measures to prevent such a tragedy from happening again in the future,” she added.
A small poor English-speaking country of 800,000 inhabitants, Guyana, a former Dutch and then British colony, has the world’s largest oil reserves per capita and hopes for rapid development in the years to come with the exploitation of these reserves which is still at his beginnings. Specialists estimate that the Guyana-Suriname Basin contains around 15 billion barrels of oil reserves associated with significant gas deposits.
