2023-05-23 23:32:29
The authorities in Guyana said on Tuesday that the fire that occurred Sunday in the dormitory of a girls’ school in the center of the country and killed 19 people, all of them minors, was set by a girl who was angered by the confiscation of her cell phone by the administration.
“It is suspected that a schoolgirl started the devastating fire because her cell phone was confiscated,” the police said in a statement.
For his part, a government official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the student was injured in the fire and confessed to standing behind him.
The fire broke out Sunday in the dormitory of a girls’ school in Mahdia, a mining town in the center of the small English-speaking country in South America.
The disaster left 19 dead, including 18 schoolgirls and one boy, the son of the dormitory director.
According to the government official, the dormitory administration “confiscated the cell phone of the girl who threatened on the evening of the same day to set the building on fire, and everyone heard her.”
The source explained that the schoolgirl is currently being treated in hospital, under police supervision, for injuries sustained in the fire.
He added that following her cell phone was confiscated, the student went to the bathroom at night, sprayed insecticide on a curtain and set it on fire with a match.
This account was confirmed by many female students who survived.
In their statement, the police said, “The students said they were asleep and were woken up by screaming. They saw fire and smoke in the bathroom, which quickly spread throughout the building.”
Although the girls tried to put out the fire, the fire spread quickly and destroyed the entire building, especially since it was partially made of wood.
The government source pointed out that the dormitory administration confiscated the phone from the girl because it is forbidden for female students to possess mobile phones.
What added to the horror of the tragedy was that the dormitory manager “panicked” and failed to find the key to the gate of the building, whose windows were also equipped with bars.
And the authorities in Guyana declared three days of national mourning in honor of the victims of this disaster.
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