Toll rises to 31 girls killed in Guatemala fire

A fire in a government-run children's shelter in Guatemala killed 31 teenage girls, medical officials said Thursday, raising the roll after a number of patients saved from the facility died of severe burns. Guatemala is observing three days of mourning over the tragedy. President Jimmy Morales has fired the director of the shelter, which was badly overcrowded and the target of multiple accusations of sexual and other abuse by staff.
The latest toll updated a previous count of 29 dead. All the victims were aged between 14 and 17. An investigation is underway into the cause of the blaze, which happened early Wednesday in the female living section of the Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home located just to the east of Guatemala City.
"How is it they didn't realize in time to save them if the smoke was seen right away?" asked the uncle of one deceased 15-year-old at the capital's morgue. The man gave only his first name, Marvin. The charred remains of his niece were identified through a DNA sample.
Initial media reports suggested the fire was started by some of the young residents in the shelter during a rebellion against conditions inside. A small group of them had reportedly escaped late Tuesday, before the disturbance. Officials said 19 girls died at the scene, and dozens were injured, many critically. Some of those patients succumbed to their burns overnight and early Thursday.
"They were serving food to the teenagers when some of them started a fire in a mattress and that's how the fire was set," said Abner Paredes, a prosecutor defending children's rights. The shelter was designed to house around 400 children but was holding nearly double that at the time of the fire. It is run by the government, under the supervision of the social welfare ministry. The residents included children escaping domestic violence, abandonment, street living, and former juvenile delinquents.
President Morales said that before the fire, orders had been given to transfer some of the youths to other facilities because of the overcrowding. A group of activists deposited burned mattresses in front of Morales' presidential palace on Thursday to denounce alleged negligence by the authorities. "It was a ticking time bomb. This was to be expected," one of the center's former employees, Angel Cardenas, said outside the facility on Wednesday. He said he had lodged several warnings about conditions inside.