2023-05-23 23:50:19
The authorities in Guyana said, on Tuesday, that the fire that broke out, on 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 administration’s confiscation of her cell phone, according to “Agence France Presse”.
“It is suspected that a schoolgirl started the devastating fire because her cell phone was confiscated,” the police said in a statement.
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 on 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 after 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 survivors.
In their statement, the police said, “The girls said they were asleep and were woken up by screaming. They saw fire and smoke in the bathroom, which quickly spread throughout the building.”
Despite the girls’ attempts to put out the flames, the fire spread quickly and completely destroyed the building, especially since it was partly 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.
“They are not allowed to have a mobile phone. They (the dormitory officials) caught this girl with a phone. Apparently she was sending pictures,” he said.
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.
The source explained that the dormitory gate was closed every day at nine o’clock at night.
He pointed out that a young boy, the son of the dormitory manager, died in the fire.
The authorities declared three days of national mourning in honor of the victims of this disaster.
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