Mahdia ‘dorm’ fire was maliciously set

–– 19 confirmed dead; 17 hospitalised

By Shamar Meusa and Clestine Juan

GUYANA was plunged into further sorrow and shock as news emerged on Monday afternoon that the deadly fire at Mahdia, Region Eight , was intentionally set.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer ( ag ), Dwayne Scotland made this startling revelation during a press conference

Up to press time on Monday night, the death toll stood at 19 Nine of the 17 students who were injured during the blaze were air-dashed to Georgetown for additional medical care The others are patients at the Mahdia Hospital

The dead students have been identified as Bibi Rita Fiona Jeffery , 13 ; Sabrina John, 16; Loreen Evans, 14; Belnisa Evans,13; twin sisters Mary and Martha D’Andrade , 15 ; Omefia Edwin , Natalie Bellarmine, and Andrea Roberts, 13; Lorita Williams , Nickleen Robinson , Sherena Daniels , Eulanda

Carter, Lisa Roberts, Cleoma Simon , Tracil Thomas and sisters Delecia Edwards, 15; and Arianna Edwards, 13

Five - year - old Adonijah Jerome, who was the son of one of the House Parents , also perished in the fire

According to Scotland , the fire originated in the south-western section of the structure, and quickly consumed the entire building

After conducting their preliminary investigation, the Guyana Fire Service handed over their findings to the Guyana Police Force for further inquiry, and for the intensifying of efforts to uncover the motives behind this heinous act

“The fire was maliciously set ,” Scotland emphasised He related that the Mahdia Fire Station received an emergency call about the fire at 23:15 hours on Sunday , prompting swift action from the firefighters

Despite their prompt response , the flames had already engulfed the building upon their arrival , posing significant challenges to the rescue operation

Nonetheless , the firefighters battled the inferno, managing to save at least 20 students

The operation persisted for approximately three-anda-half hours until the fire was eventually brought under control and extinguished

According to one of the female students who managed to escape, she was awakened by screams , and upon checking, she saw a fire in the bathroom area, which quickly spread to other parts of the building

Commissioner of Police (ag) Clifton Hicken assured the public that the investigation would be expedited, with the findings to be made public once the process concludes

Additionally, Hicken revealed that DNA testing would be promptly conducted to positive identify the charred remains of 13 bodies , while post - mortem examinations had already been conducted on six of the deceased

Expressing his condolences on behalf of the force, Hicken emphasised their commitment to swiftly bring the matter to a close so as to offer some solace to the grieving families a team from the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation that came in around 03:29 hours That team from the Georgetown Public Hospital, along with a team from the Mahdia District Hospital did initial assessment of all the patients.”

Along with this, of those patients received, Dr. Dudhnauth revealed that the first medical evacuation of the first three very critical patients took place around the same time They were airlifted out of the region and transported to the GPHC for further treatment

Subsequently, he noted, a second medevac transported three more girls to the city around 06:27 hours

On Monday afternoon around 14:05 hours , three more were airlifted to the city and transported to the GPHC

Brigadier Omar Khan , Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force ( GDF ) and head of the technical committee overseeing the national response, shed light on the efforts undertaken to address the catastrophe

He said that the military responded to the distress call for a medevac operation which led to the leveraging of resources from the Ministry of Health, joint services, and the private sector

This coordinated effort involved five aircraft , six ambulances , and over 80 personnel specializing in emergency response, medical care, and security

“

As you know , last night was bad weather and because of this , we had some concerns about flying into this area ; however , despite this, our pilots were determined to execute this medical evacuation operations ,” Brigadier Khan said.

Emergency Plan

Following the tragedy, a full-scale medical emergency plan was launched, and saw the quick treatment of those injured in the fire at both the Mahdia District Hospital and the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

During a briefing by President Dr Irfaan Ali, in Mahdia, Regional Health officer Dr Ravindra Dudhnauth told the nation that hospitalisation and care efforts began late Sunday evening when the first set of patients arrived at the Mahdia District Hospital around 23:30 hours

According to Dr Dudnauth , some 26 patients in total came to that facility

The hospital ’ s capacity was later boosted by the arrival of additional medical personnel from Georgetown

The RHO said: “We got

“Currently, there are 17 patients at the hospital, 11 of whom are stable, while there are five that we can still consider stable but critical,” he added.

Gphc

On Monday morning , during a media briefing , Dr Vickita Nandan provided a report on the six patients who had arrived up to that point

During that briefing, she noted that those patients had varying degrees of burns that ranged from approximately 30 per cent of the total surface area to about five per cent

At the time , she noted that two patients were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit where they were intubated and on ventilative support

One of those patients , according to Dr Nandan , was rushed to the operating theatre to have limb-saving surgery done due to the extent of the burns received , while the other three patients were admitted to the hospital’s Paediatric High Dependency Unit

Meanwhile, Dr Shilindra Rajkumar, who was part of the team that lent support to the Mahdia Hospital, upon his return to the GPHC stated that the situation on the ground was under control , and they would have been able to get to that level after some 12 hours

Dr. Rajkumar, during a live broadcast, said that they have managed to treat some patients, and have them discharged, and also managed to triage others to determine which of them were in need of a high level of care

He and his team brought the last three girls to the city

The doctor explained that of those three, one had a predisposing condition which was exacerbated by possible smoke inhalation