Dorm mother loses 5-yr-old son while trying to rescue students

May 23, 2023 News

---

Mahdia fire…

… angry residents stage protest, President declared three days of mourning

By Renay Sambach

Kaieteur News The Mahdia Secondary School female dormitory fire which claimed the lives of 18 girls and a 5-year-old boy is possibly the largest mass fatality resulting from a fire in the history of Guyana.

Following news of the tragedy, Guyanese flooded social media platforms expressing their condolences to the bereaved relatives of the victims.

During an interview with this publication, Mayor of Mahdia, Mr. David Adams shared, “My information is that the fire started 10 minutes to 11p.m. and the fire tender arrived 25 minutes after 11pm. By the time they got there, the fire reached a stage where it became difficult for them to extinguish it.” He continued: “It was compounded by the fact that we only have one fire tender in the town ship and what made it also difficult is the fact that they had no fire hydrant in the area where the fire took place. So the firefighters had to shuttle water from the creek to the school, where the fire was. They really tried their best, given the circumstances and what they had to work with.”

Sharing how Carletta Williams, the dorm mother lost her 5-year-old son Adonijah Jerome, the mayor explained that Williams has her own apartment that is attached to the female dormitory building, that she shares with her son. “I understand when she was alerted to the fire, she rushed out of her apartment and ran to save them, leaving her son behind. It was during the chaos that her son ended up perishing in the fire,” Mr. Adams said.

To this, the mayor added that he believes the reason so many children died in the fire is because of the windows and doors that were grilled and padlocked. “Public-spirited persons had to break the walls of the dorm to help some of the children to get out,” Mayor Adams disclosed.

 

When questioned Mayor Adams shared that he does not believe that there was any fire extinguisher at the dormitory. “Going forward, we have to look at the systems that are in place for dormitory and schools, and ensuring that the necessary precautions are taken,” he added.

He shared that several government officials including: President Irfaan Ali, Prime Minister Mark Phillips, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai among others, were in Mahdia rendering assistance to the grieving families and the communities.

When asked if the children who survived were able to write the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination, the mayor explained that they were unable to sit their exams and a request was made by the parents to the Minister of Education for the exams to be suspended. However, he related that the minister informed them that they can re-write the exam in January 2024.

He added that given the tragedy, the children will be housed in the secondary school tonight.  Additionally, he said some parents have requested that their children be sent back home to be with them, to give them some time before they return to school. Finally, the mayor shared that the people of Mahdia are our in solidarity expressing their sympathy to the villagers who lost their daughters in the fire.

Three days of mourning

Meanwhile, President Ali yesterday announced three days of mourning for the 19 children that perished in the fire and pledged government support to the grieving families. During a briefing, the President explained that for the students who die in the fire, Guyana will need external assistance with the DNA analysis so that we can support the identification of the students. “We have already sought the assistance of  regional international partners, we are hoping before the end of today, that support will be received,” Ali said. He said too that the Ministry of Education is working on the reprogramming of all education requirements, which include the CXC examination.

Regional Health Officer (RHO), Ravindra Dudnauth, for Region Eight, shared during the briefing that the moment he was informed of the fire, all the doctors and nurses were called into the hospital. “Our first patient was received around 11:30pm, subsequently more patients started coming to the hospital. We had a total of 26 patients coming into the hospital. However, we would have received a call from the Ministry of Health asking if help is needed, we indeed accepted that request and we got a team from the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation,” the RHO disclosed.

Protest

While the officials met with the parents and guardians of the victims, residents of Mahdia protested outside of the Mahdia Secondary School.

The protesters called for “justice” as they hold up their placards. One protester called for more fire trucks in the mining township. “Every mother weep, every cow cry for their calf…who feel it knows it,” another protester said. Moreover, Michael McGarrell shared several protest photos stating, “As they mourn the loss of several students from the village in the fire which occurred last night at the Mahdia Secondary School’s dormitory, residents of Chenapou are calling for justice.”

 

 

 

---

• dormitory, Mahdia fire, Mahdia19, Mayor David Adams

---