-three days of mourning declared
Deep sorrow and shock gripped the small Region Eight town of Mahdia and other hinterland communities after arson obliterated a girls secondary school dormitory on Sunday night claiming 19 lives with another nine hospitalised in Georgetown.
After leading a team into the community, President Irfaan Ali announced three days of national mourning and said that no effort would be spared to help stricken families. The Guyana Fire Service (GFS) yesterday declared the tragedy as arson.
“We have concluded it was maliciously set. We cannot say at this time who set it but someone set it,” Acting Fire Chief Dwayne Scotland told Stabroek News yesterday. He noted that they are still conducting investigations and are in the process of interviewing witnesses.
The nineteen children who perished have been identified as twin sisters Mary and Martha Dandrade, Bibi Rita Jeffrey, Sabrina John, Loreen Evans, Belnisa Evans, Omefia Edwin, Natalie Bellarmine, Andrea Roberts, Lorita Williams, Nickleen Robinson, Sherena Daniels, Eulanda Carter, Lisa Roberts, Cleoma Simon Tracil Thomas and sisters Delecia Edwards and Arianna Edwards along with five-year-old Adonijah Jerome, the son of the caretaker. A number of them hailed from villages outside of Mahdia.
This tragedy has plunged the entire country into a state of mourning and the President declared three days of national mourning beginning yesterday afternoon.
“I ask that as a nation we utilise the next three days as three days of prayers for these children, their families and the community… There are no words that can describe this magnitude of pain that our brothers and sisters are going through today…We wish this day had never occurred… This is a pain we must carry as a nation and as a family. It is a pain we must share together and support in our prayers,” President Ali said.
Information released by the Guyana Police Force said 14 children died inside of the building while the other five succumbed to injuries at the Mahdia District Hospital.
DNA testing
With 13 students burned beyond recognition, Commissioner of Police (ag) Clifton Hicken said the force will undertake DNA testing to positively identify them.
Yesterday afternoon, he said that they completed autopsies on six of the children and the others will be done swiftly.
“I want to reiterate on behalf of the force, my condolences going out to the families, we will conclude this investigation swiftly,” Hicken said.
The government, the Office of the President yesterday said has already sought needed support from regional and international partners and is optimistic that by the end of the day that support will be received to bring closure to the families.
At the time of the fire, which started at approximately 10.50 pm, 56 female students were in the dormitory.
At around 11.15 pm on Sunday, Scotland said firefighters from the Mahdia Fire Station were summoned to the scene but the four-minute drive found the building completely engulfed in flames.
Scotland subsequently told the Department of Public Information (DPI), that the fire was lit in the southwestern end of the building.
“Immediately, firefighting and rescue operation were initiated. These operations would have rescued not less than 20 students. The operation continued for approximately three and a half hours after which, the fire was brought under control and subsequently extinguished,” DPI quoted him as saying.
Fire prevention
Scotland in response to questions from this newspaper stated that there was limited evidence to suggest fire prevention measures were in place at the dormitory. He noted that while they would have found empty cans of fire extinguishers it is uncertain whether they came from within the dorm or from external efforts to fight the fire.
The horrific blaze and the fact that the building was secured by iron grills have raised numerous questions. Persons have raised concerns over the fact that the building was grilled resulting in students being trapped.
Mahdia Mayor, David Adams told this newspaper that the building was constructed sometime around 2011 but was not always grilled. It is unclear to him when the windows and doors were secured by grills.
Going forward, he stressed that they will have to revisit the measures and likely increase the number of security guards in the compound. As it is, only one guard watches over the compound.
From his independent investigations, he further stated that the students were not exposed to fire drills nor was the building equipped with fire escapes.
“In the aftermath we will now have to look at measures to have in place water mains so that the fire service can work effectively and relook at the security measures in place,” Adams stated.
Firefighters and public-spirited citizens on Sunday night spent their time trying to contain the blaze and rescue students.
Parkinson John who resides next door to the Region Eight dormitory yesterday morning told Stabroek News that he assisted in saving at least eight students. According to him, he was the first person to respond to the fire after being alerted by his dogs constantly barking.
“I went over in my underwear alone and tried to save them. On the left side of the building there was only smoke so I rush in and try to get them to exit. The smoke had them bad but I wrap a cloth around my face and run and grab who I can,” John explained. He stated that he made two trips before he had to abandon the rescue mission due to the high volume of smoke.
He went on to state that if others were as brave as him they could have saved more students.
Nonetheless, he stated that persons who responded after him, assisted in trying to open up the grills for the students to escape.
“When I hear the screams I run to get a piece of wood and try to open the grill but I couldn’t do it on my own and the other guys help. They pull who they could have out of the building. Some of the kids were badly burnt…”, John who spoke with this newspaper via phone added.
The first responder and local community hero added that the fire service responded approximately 20 minutes after the blaze started. By then the building was consumed by the inferno.
Mahdia resident Kyle Smith, in a Facebook Live on Sunday night said that despite the doors being opened after the alarm was raised, students were trapped.
Smith in his video stated that his wife alerted him to an amber glow in the sky and he later realised it was a fire at the dormitory.
“My wife wake me up and said look how the place looking red red on that one side and it looked so attractive to my eyes. I picked up my phone to take a picture but there and then I realised when people start shouting for help and when I look closely there is fire,” he recounted.
He noted that just after his arrival on the scene, he assisted in taking a student to the Ambulance but many others remained trapped.
“There isn’t much the fire service could have done because there is just one truck in Mahdia and the lil water it had stored up, they use up and it finishes and the truck gone…about 20 minutes later it returned,” he explained to viewers.
During his live stream, he stated that the roof of the building collapsed and the entire property was engulfed in flames. The rain however arrived some minutes later and helped put out the blaze.
President Ali yesterday said that the Government through the Ministry of Education is working on the reprogramming of all educational requirements, which includes the CXC examinations.
A technical Task Force led by Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Brigadier Omar Khan and a Cabinet Task Force led by Prime Minister Mark Phillips were created, the President’s office said.
