Not less than 20 individuals, largely college students, died in a hearth at a faculty dormitory in Guyana, the federal government mentioned in an announcement Monday.
“This can be a main catastrophe. It’s horrible, it’s painful,” the South American nation’s President Irfaan Ali mentioned Sunday night time.
The dying toll had risen to twenty and several other individuals had been injured within the fireplace on the Mahdia Secondary College in central Guyana, the federal government assertion mentioned.
Ali mentioned he ordered preparations be made within the capital Georgetown’s two main hospitals “so that each single baby who requires consideration be given the very best alternative to get that focus.”
Non-public and navy planes have been despatched to Mahdia, situated about 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of Georgetown, because the area is affected by heavy rains.
Natasha Singh-Lewis, an opposition MP, referred to as for an investigation into the hearth’s trigger.
“We have to perceive how this most horrific and lethal incident occurred and take all obligatory measures to stop such a tragedy from occurring once more,” she mentioned.
Guyana, a small English-speaking nation of 800,000 individuals, is a former Dutch and British colony with the world’s largest per capita oil reserves, which it hopes will assist spur fast improvement.