(CMR) A 15-year-old girl who is accused of starting a fire at a school dormitory in Guyana last week after her phone was confiscated was charged with 19 murders on Monday.
The fire killed 18 mostly Indigenous girls and one five-year-old boy in the building in the central city of Mahdia, Reuters reported. Reports are that the fire was so severe that DNA testing was required to identify some victims.
The girl is being held in Guyana's juvenile detention center, and the charges against her were formalized during a virtual hearing in court.
Reports are that the fire was started in the bathroom area and eventually tore through the whole building, which was partially made of wood and was housing 57 pupils at the time. The dorm was locked and had covered windows that trapped victims.
The teenage suspect was admitted to hospital with burns and reportedly confessed to the arson. The girl is accused of threatening her attack after her phone was allegedly taken and she was disciplined for having a relationship with an older man.
Survivors of the incident in the central town of Mahdia spoke of being woken up in the middle of the night by screams. The dorm administrator, who lost her five-year-old son in the fire , was unable to locate the keys to unlock the door in her state of panic.
Firefighters had to resort to smashing through the walls to help people escape, but were unable to contain the fire due to bad weather conditions.
According to AP, this week’s dormitory fire outranked what had been the country’s deadliest fire in recent times, when 17 inmates were killed at the main Georgetown prison in 2016. Angry over trial delays and overcrowding, some inmates set fire to the building, built to house 500 but containing 1,100, resulting in the deaths of the 17 and severe injuries to about a dozen others.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid