Guatemala shelter fire death toll reaches 40
Shriners Hospital in Galveston takes four burn victims
The death toll in a fire at a Guatemalan children’s shelter rises to 40 as four of the victims are transferred to Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston.
GUATEMALA CITY — The death toll in a fire at a Guatemalan children’s shelter rose to 40 on Sunday with the announcement that another girl has died of burns.
The death was announced by the Roosevelt Hospital in Guatemala’s capital. Nineteen of the adolescents perished at the scene of Wednesday’s inferno, and another 21 have died in local hospitals.
Four of the burn victims were taken by airplane Saturday to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston. The office of President Jimmy Morales said the Shriners Hospitals had arranged for their transfer.
The fire began when mattresses were set ablaze during a protest by residents at the overcrowded youth shelter.
Authorities are still searching for answers in the disaster that has put a spotlight on failings in Guatemala’s child protective services.
Prosecutors’ spokeswoman Julia Barrera says the head of the country’s protective services agency has been ordered not to leave Guatemala while investigations continue.
The president has blamed the government’s “rigid” and “insensitive” system for dealing with troubled youths and has promised to reform protective services for some 1,500 minors currently living in youth shelters around the country.
Morales blamed the Guatemalan state during a news conference for the tragedy and said that all of the government institutions in charge of minors played a role.
Officials say the fire began when mattresses were set afire during a protest by residents at the shelter housing hundreds of boys and girls. Questions remained over why someone among the girls set the blaze and whether doors remained locked as the girls pleaded for their lives.
Widespread reports by some victims’ relatives have said that some of the girls set mattresses on fire to protest their apprehension and return to the facility after fleeing the previous night because of mistreatment, bad food and fears of rape.
Parents and relatives said many of the young people at the shelter had been sent there because of abuse, poverty or family problems. Others were ordered there by judges after run-ins with police, officials said.