Unspeakable tragedy occurred on Sunday night at a school in Guyana, South America, when a fire, possibly caused by arson, broke out, killing 19 girls.

THE authorities are talking about “malicious” energy in the girls’ school dormitory in Mahdia, a mining and mining town in the small country in the north-eastern part of South America.

This is a “major disaster”, a “horrific” and “painful” event, President Irfan Ali said yesterday morning.

Mr. Ali, who preached three days of national mourning, visited the scene of the tragedy accompanied by a large government delegation, including the Chief of Police. “We will continue to be by your side,” he assured the families of the victims.

“The first evidence of the investigation indicates that the fire was due to in malicious actionGuyana Police Chief Clifton Hicken revealed during a press conference televised live by Mahdia.

He made no assessment of it what might have been the motives of the arsonisty, however, reported that “DNA tests” were carried out and that six bodies were subjected to necropsy.

“Fourteen young women died on the spot, while (another) five died at a hospital in the Mahdia district,” according to a statement from the Guyana Fire Service released yesterday morning.

The president confirmed the tally yesterday evening, clarifying how little boy and 13 girls died on the spot and five other victims succumbed to a hospital in Mahdia.

According to the latest figures from the authorities, 17 more victims are hospitalized.

A previous government tally called for “20 deaths” due to the fire “in a secondary school dormitory in Mahdia”.

The authorities also revised the numbers on how many children were present: according to the latest data, 59 young girls were “recorded” as being in the dormitory, while three were absent, having gone to spend the weekend at their homes.

“The firefighters they managed to save about twenty schoolgirls opening holes in the northeast wall of the building,” according to a statement from the fire department.

Safety bars were installed on the windows of the concrete building.

Airlifts of victims and the dispatch of medical aid were hampered by heavy rains in the region, emergency services said.

The city of Mahdia is located about 200 kilometers south of the capital Georgetown, however to get there by car the road is difficult, it generally takes a whole day.

The fire broke out in a girls’ dormitory housing “11-12 and 16-17-year-old” students, a source close to emergency services said on condition of anonymity.

The building is completely destroyed, with the roof completely collapsed and the walls bearing visible signs of flames and smoke.

Yesterday at noon, about fifty people they demonstrated to express their anger in the village of Chenapau, a short distance from Mahdia, where some of the victims were from, Georgetown resident Michael McGarrel, who lost two nieces in the tragedy, told AFP by phone.

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“Irons are for prisoners. We need justice,” the placard read.

“The pain, the agony, the trauma… Who is responsible? And what will we tell the parents?’ asked Mr McGarrel, an activist with the NGO Amerindian People’s Association (APA), which has often clashed with the government over issues ranging from fundamental rights to gold prospecting and, more recently, the sale of broadcast rights. of carbon dioxide to the American oil company Hess.

“We are with all our hearts on the side of the families and loved ones of the victims of this tragedy,” said Natasha Sig-Lewis, an opposition MP.

“We demand the authorities to conduct an investigation in depth about the causes of the fire and to release a detailed investigation into what really happened. We need to understand how this gruesome and deadly event happened and take all necessary measures to prevent any such tragedy from happening again in the future,” he added.

The small country of 800,000 inhabitantsthe only English-speaking country in South America, once a colony of the Netherlands and then of Britain, has the largest per capita oil reserves in the world and hopes to grow rapidly in the coming years thanks to its exploitation, which is still only at the beginning of its .

Experts estimate that in the Guyana-Suriname basin there are approximately deposits containing 15 million barrels of crude and also large deposits of natural gas.