School dormitory fire kills at least 20 in Guyana

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
22 May 15:48

Officials were backing efforts at Ogle Airport in the capital to "receive the critical patients and coordinate an emergency plan of action."

Medical personnel in Georgetown receive patients after the school fire in Guyana. (AFP)

At least 20 people were killed and several others were injured Sunday in a school dormitory blaze in Guyana, the government stated, with the nation's President calling it a "major disaster."

"This is a major disaster. It is horrible, it is painful," the South American nation's President Irfaan Ali said Sunday night.

The death toll from the fire at the Mahdia Secondary School in central Guyana had increased to 20, according to a government statement.

"We have lost many beautiful souls in that fire," it added. "We ask that our prayers continue to be with these children, their families, and communities."

Ali stated that he had directed that preparations be made in Georgetown's two largest hospitals "so that every single child who requires attention be given the best possible opportunity to get that attention."

Due to severe rainfall, private and military planes have been dispatched to Mahdia, which is located roughly 200 kilometers south of Georgetown.

"Five planes have already taken off to Mahdia to support the regional health officials with additional medical supplies and medivacs," the government statement said.

"At this moment, seven children are prepared to be medivac to Georgetown."

At least one plane with three evacuees arrived in Georgetown, AFP reported.

The government said officials were backing efforts at Ogle Airport in the capital to "receive the critical patients and coordinate an emergency plan of action."

"A full-scale medical emergency action plan has been launched," it added.

Natasha Singh-Lewis, an opposition MP, urged for an investigation into the fire's cause.

"We need to understand how this most horrific and deadly incident occurred and take all necessary measures to prevent such a tragedy from happening again," she said.

It is worth noting that Guyana, a small English-speaking country of 800,000 people, is a former Dutch and British colony that currently found out that it holds the world's largest per capita oil reserves.

It expects that the finding would help promote quick growth in one of South America's poorest countries.

The country also has the world's second-highest proportion of forest cover.