34 Girls Burned to Death in Fire at Guatemala girls shelter...
Guatemala Mourns for 34 Girls Burned to Death in Fire at State-Run Shelter
March 09, 2017 - Guatemala is in mourning after the horrific fire Wednesday that killed 34 teenage girls at a shelter for troubled young people near Guatemala City.
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'Nightmare' Scenes After Guatemala Shelter Fire Kills 30, More at Risk
March 09, 2017 — A fire that ripped through an overcrowded home for abused children in Guatemala killed at least 30 people, mostly girls, and doctors on Thursday described their shock at the severity of the burns suffered by two dozen more hospitalized victims.
Guatemala Mourns for 34 Girls Burned to Death in Fire at State-Run Shelter
March 09, 2017 - Guatemala is in mourning after the horrific fire Wednesday that killed 34 teenage girls at a shelter for troubled young people near Guatemala City.
Nineteen of the girls died at the scene — their charred bodies covered with blankets outside the building. Fifteen victims later died from their burns at the hospital. Others are fighting for their lives. Police and witnesses say mattresses were deliberately set on fire in a part of the shelter where the girls were locked down after trying to escape.
The state-run Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home was built to hold 500, but as many as 800 boys and girls were being housed there — frequently complaining of bad food, shabby facilities, fights and sex abuse.
A relative of a youth who resided at the Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home wails as she waits for the release of the names of those who died in a fire at the shelter, outside the morgue where the bodies are being identified in Guatemala City
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales has called for three days of mourning. He blames the disaster on officials who he says ignored orders to move many of the residents to other facilities. "The government regrets the fact that those authorities did not heed that request in an opportune way, something which could have prevented the tragedy," Morales said Thursday.
The "safe home" was built to shelter teenagers who were living on the streets because of violence at home or drug addiction. A former employee of the home called it "a ticking time bomb."
Guatemala Mourns for 34 Girls Burned to Death in Fire at State-Run Shelter
See also:
'Nightmare' Scenes After Guatemala Shelter Fire Kills 30, More at Risk
March 09, 2017 — A fire that ripped through an overcrowded home for abused children in Guatemala killed at least 30 people, mostly girls, and doctors on Thursday described their shock at the severity of the burns suffered by two dozen more hospitalized victims.
“I’ve been doing this for 29 years. What I saw yesterday was a scene from Dante," said Juan Antonio Villeda, director of the San Juan de Dios hospital, where 17 patients with extremely serious first- and second-degree burns were being treated. The fire broke out on Wednesday as some residents allegedly set mattresses ablaze following an escape attempt from the government-run Virgen de Asuncion home for youths aged up to 18, in San Jose Pinula, 25 km (15 miles) southwest of the capital, Guatemala City.
Overcrowding a major problem
Investigators were trying to determine whether the fire was started by a group that authorities had isolated after the escape attempt on Tuesday night. Guatemala has Latin America's worst rates of child malnutrition and street gangs like the Mara Salvatrucha prey on minors, making it an often dangerous place to grow up. The Central American nation's public institutions are underfunded, racked by corruption and widespread overcrowding. Criticism is mounting about conditions in the home, which housed boys and girls. Presidential spokesman Heinz Heimann said victims of abuse were mixed in with juvenile offenders in what he criticized as open living arrangements. Parents alleged abuse at the center, including rape, and said gangs operated there.
National Police guard the entrance to the children's shelter Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home where people gather in San Jose Pinula, Guatemala
Many more victims in critical conditions
More than 500 minors were in the home in a wooded area outside the semi-rural town of San Jose Pinula, although Guatemalan media said its capacity was 400. Doctors announced eight deaths overnight of residents of the home who had been treated for injuries at hospitals in Guatemala City, and said some 24 more were in critical condition. “In my 13-year career I have never seen injuries like this. It is tragic,” said Carlos Soto, director of the Roosevelt hospital, describing severe burns to their lungs, throats and skin.
'Nightmare' Scenes After Guatemala Shelter Fire Kills 30, More at Risk
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