At least 19 people killed after blaze rips through children's orphanage in Guatemala

Fatal blaze: Forensic personnel work at the children's shelter Virgen de la Asuncion after a fire left at least 19 people dead
AFP/Getty Images
Hatty Collier9 March 2017

At least 19 people have been killed in a fire at a children’s orphanage in Guatemala.

Thirty-eight other people were injured in the blaze, with 14 girls in a serious condition with severe burns, officials said.

The fire broke out at the Virgen de Asuncion shelter in San Jose Pinula which is about 15 miles south-east of the capital Guatemala City.

Riot police were called in, alongside firefighters, following reports the blaze began when some of those inside the shelter began setting mattresses alight.

Riot police agents are on guard outside the orphanage
EPA

Mario Cruz, a spokesman for Guatemala's volunteer fire departments, said that 19 bodies have been found and about two dozen people were being treated for injuries.

Dr Carlos Soto, the director of the Roosevelt Hospital where some were being treated, said the most severe cases, all apparently girls, had suffered life-threatening burns.

The shelter has been criticised for overcrowding, alleged abuse and escapes in the past.

The prosecutor for children's rights, Abner Paredes, said initial reports suggested the blaze started when some began setting fire to mattresses in the shelter, known as the Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home.

There were reports of escape attempts on Tuesday at the shelter, which was created to house children who were victims of abuse, homelessness or who had completed sentences at youth detention centres and had nowhere else to go.

While the shelter was built to house 500 children and adolescents, it held an estimated 800 at the time of the fire.

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