GUATEMALA: 21 girls perish after fire razes child care centre

Tragedy struck at a crowded children’s care home in Guatemala when a raging fire claimed the lives of 21 girls at the care giving centre.

According to reports, the fire apparently started in protest against abuse at the crowded children’s care home located at the municipality of San Jose Pinula, some 25km southwest of the capital Guatemala City.

Complaints about abuse and living conditions at the overcrowded shelter have been frequent.

Then on Wednesday, about 9am, “Some of the adolescents lit their mattresses on fire,” head of Guatemala’s social welfare agency, Carlos Rodas said. “We don’t shirk responsibility, we accept it, but we can’t get those lives back.”

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Reports say a crowd of relatives, many of them wailing with grief, continue to gather late on Wednesday (local time) outside the Virgen de Asuncion home, following the tragic incident.

Two hospitals said they received 41 injured girls between the ages of 13 and 17, many with second- and third-degree burns. Some of the injured had life-threatening burns.

“This is a painful situation,” Nery Ramos, the head of Guatemala’s national police, said at the scene of the fire.

 

 

 

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