Girls Die In Detention Centre Fire

DeathHand · #1 ● 03-15-2017, 06:56 AM

Guatemala Youth Center Blaze Kills Up To 40 Female Teens & 1 Adult

A blaze that killed at least 35 girls at a shelter (Hogar Seguro Virgen de la Asunción - Safe Home of the Virgin Assumption) for troubled youths erupted when some of them set fire to mattresses to protest rapes and other mistreatment at the badly overcrowded institution, the parent of one victim said Thursday.

Officials said they are still investigating who started the fire Wednesday at the long-criticized shelter on the outskirts of Guatemala's capital. It houses troubled and abused boys and girls as well as juvenile offenders.

Nineteen victims were found dead at the scene, and 16 more succumbed one by one to their grisly injuries at hospitals in Guatemala City. Several more girls were fighting for their lives, some with severe burns over more than half their bodies.

Set 1.

San José Pinula (east), Guatemala, March 7, 2017.

DeathHand · #2 ● 03-15-2017, 06:59 AM

The National Institute of Forensic Science said that 17 of the bodies have been identified.

The 35th death was announced by the General Hospital late Thursday while President Jimmy Morales called for a restructuring of the country's youth shelter system, which houses some 1,500 children around the country, during a news conference. Outside the presidential palace, dozens of protesters gathered to demand answers.

The fire started when someone ignited mattresses in a dormitory that held girls who had been caught the day before during a mass breakout attempt, authorities said.

Source

Source (same as noted above)

A recent update on a Guatemalan website indicated that the death toll had risen to 40 and that 3 officials at the Center had been arrested.

Set 2.

Phanci · #3 ● 03-15-2017, 07:36 AM

Wow... if mistreatment and rapes are true I hope the young women don't die in vain and they get to the bottom of the abuse. They definitely made a statement.