19 young students have died after a 14-year-old girl reportedly set the school on fire.
According to the New York Post, the fire was started by a female student after her phone was confiscated by teachers at the Mahdia Secondary School in Guyana.
National security adviser Gerald Gouveia said that the blaze started on May 21 after school staff confiscated the teen’s phone due to her alleged relationship with an older man.
Sadly, many students were trapped inside the school dormitory as blaze tore through the building.
Gouveia revealed that the building, which was made predominantly of wood and concrete, had grilled windows to prevent students from sneaking out at night.
“She did this out of love for them. She felt she was forced to do so because many of them leave the building at night to socialize,” he said.
“The house mother was asleep at the time inside the building but panicked and could not find the right keys to unlock the building from inside but she made it out,” Gouveia continued.
He described the incident as ‘a very sad situation,’ adding that the ‘state is going to work with the students and the families to provide all the support they need.’
According to police, students heard screams as smoke filled the building. 38 students managed to escape after firefighters smashed the walls.
The 14-year-old who started the blaze is expected to be transferred to a juvenile detention center after receiving treatment in hospital for injuries.
Government pathologists have conducted post-mortems on some of the victims and have listed their cause of death as burns and smoke inhalation.
Guyanese President Irfaan Ali said: “This is a major disaster. It is horrible, it is painful.”
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