The echoes of a deadly fire still reverberate in Guyana, where the parents of two surviving teenagers have filed a lawsuit against the government, alleging negligence over the tragedy that claimed 20 lives last year.
In May 2023, flames engulfed the Mahdia dormitory.
In that incident 20 students perished, trapped behind iron grills and locked doors. Two 14-year-old girls, their names withheld, were able to escape with the assistance of authorities and residents, but not unscathed.
Reports emerging from Guyana say that now, their parents seek justice, demanding $10 Million each in local currency, approximately US$50,000, for their daughters who endure physical scars and mental trauma associated with the haunting memory of witnessing their schoolmates perish.
News of the lawsuit follows the release of a report titled “Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Mahdia Secondary School Female Dormitory Fire”, which was made public in January 2024.
However, journalists in Guyana say that the cases were filed in October 2023.
The report noted several systematic flaws, and areas of neglect that contributed to the to scale of the incident.
“We view the tragedy as a result of the culmination of a number of systemic flaws in policy implementation, compounded by inefficiencies in management, and acts of negligence by certain officials. These were manifested in the circumstances that led to the tragedy and in the events that unfolded on the night of 20th May, 2023”, the report said.
“We find that the House Supervisors were untrained and unskilled in fire emergency evacuation techniques and had absolutely no plan to manage emergencies. There were no fire emergency and evacuation procedures in place, or at the very basic minimum, there was no-one else in the compound with keys to open the doors in the event of an emergency or even the keys to the doors being kept on a separate bunch for easy access. There was simply no emergency plan in place”, it added.
Meanwhile, the 15 year old girl who started the blaze in retaliation to her phone being confiscated remains before the court, charged with the murders of her schoolmates. Attorney’s argue that her actions do not absolve the government of fault in the incident as she, a minor, was in the care and supervision of the state at the time of the incident.
TEEN SLAPPED WITH 19 MURDER CHARGES AFTER DORM FIRE IN GUYANA – 284 Media – News from the BVI