14-year-old burns down school dorm after cellphone seized by teacher , 19 dead | World News | Times Of Ahmedabad

A 14-year-old girl student has emerged as the prime suspect for a major fire incident which happened recently at the Mahdia Secondary School in Guyana. 19 children had died in the unfortunate incident after their dormitory was set on fire. The children couldn’t escape as the dorm’s doors were locked.

In this photo provided by Guyana’s Department of Public Information, the dormitory of a secondary school is burned in Mahdia, Guyana, Monday, May 22, 2023. A nighttime fire raced through the dormitory early Monday, killing at least 19 students and injuring several others, authorities said. (AP)

As per reports, the girl suspect allegedly committed the crime after her cellphone was confiscated by school authorities. The tragic incident has rocked the South American country and hit headlines across the globe. National Security Adviser Gerald Gouveia told the Associated Press that the suspect’s phone was taken away to discipline her for having an affair with an older man. Miffed at the school authorities for seizing her phone, the girl set the dorm on fire.

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“The house mother was asleep at the time inside the building but panicked and could not find the right keys to unlock the building from inside but she made it out,” said Gouveia.

“A female student is suspected of having set the devastating fire because her cellular phone was taken away by the dorm mother and a teacher,” said Mark Ramotar, Guyana Police’s communications chief in a statement.

Meanwhile, Deutsche Welle reported an unnamed official as saying that the girl had admitted to her crime. The girl suspect also got injured in the blaze and is currently being treated in a hospital. She will be held in Juvenile detention after her recovery.

View of the school dormitory that caught fire and left at least 19 people dead in Mahdia, Guyana on May 22, 2023. At least 19 people, most of them youths, were killed and several injured Sunday in a school dormitory fire in Guyana, the government said in a statement, with the nation’s president calling it a “major disaster”.(AFP)

Out of the 19 children who died in the blaze, the 19th victim was dorm mother’s own 5-year-old son. 13 of the victims got burnt beyond recognition. Guyana has accepted assistance from USA and other countries to ascertain the identity of such victims through DNA testing by forensic experts.

AP reported that the older man with whom the girl suspect was having an affair, is expected to be charged with statutory rape as the girl was under 16 at the time.