A fire that killed 19 people in a girls’ dormitory in Guyana was purposely set, investigators believe, by one of the girls’ fellow students.
The girl in question remains unidentified other than to say she is about 14 years old, and officials say she started the blaze because she was angry over the confiscation of her cell phone.
The suspect is currently hospitalized after being injured in the fire herself, but National Security Adviser Gerald Gouveia said she had threatened to burn the dorm down after being disciplined over an alleged affair with an older man, according to the Associated Press.
Officials believe she started the fire in a bathroom in the dormitory, and the blaze quickly escalated throughout the building, which had been locked for the night to keep girls from sneaking out.
“She did this out of love for them. She felt she was forced to do so because many of them leave the building at night to socialize,” Gouveia told The Associated Press of the policy of locking the dorm up at night.
“This is a very sad situation, but the state is going to work with the students and the families to provide all the support they need.”
“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. She also lost her five-year-old child in the fire,” Gouveia added.
Aside from the 19 dead, nine others remain hospitalized in serious condition.
The suspect will be transferred to juvenile detention upon her release from the hospital, where she will remain until she reaches adulthood, health ministry adviser Leslie Ramsammy said, according to the Associated Press.
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