President Dr. Irfaan during an engagement with the press on Wednesday announced that the members of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) to investigate the deadly Mahdia fire will be sworn in by this weekend.
It was previously reportedly that Major General (retired) Joseph Singh will be leading the CoI and that the government is currently finalising the Terms of Reference (ToR).
Singh served as Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Presidential Advisor and Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). He is the current chairperson of the Natural Resource Fund (NRF).
The May 21 inferno killed 19 female students between the ages of 12 and 17, and a five-year-old boy who was the son of the dorm parents.
Days after the horrific incident, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) disclosed that the fire was allegedly started by a 15-year-old student, who also lived at the dorm after her cellular phone was taken away by the dorm’s mother and a teacher.
The fire was allegedly set in the bathroom area of the dormitory. According to the surviving female students, they were asleep, and were awakened by screams. Upon checking, they saw fire and smoke in the bathroom area, which quickly spread in the building, causing several students to receive burns to their bodies and suffer smoke inhalation, while several managed to escape.
Several of the injured students were air-dashed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) for treatment.
On May 27, another 13-year-old girl was flown to the Northwell Health Burn Care Centre in New York to be administered advanced medical care. She is recovering well but has a long road to recovery.
The facility housed about 59 students from the communities of Karisparu, El Paso, Micobie and Chenapau. Information from the Guyana Fire Service indicated that 14 youths died at the scene of the fire, while five died at Mahdia District Hospital.
The teen suspect has since appeared at the Diamond/Golden Grove Magistrates’ Courts, and was not required to plead to the murder charges. Magistrate Sunil Scarce had ordered that she be held at a juvenile holding centre until July 4, when the matters will be called for disclosure of statements.
The girls who perished in the fire are: Sherana Daniels, Subrina John, Belnisa Evans, Loreen Evans, Bibi Rita Fiona Jeffrey, Lisa Roberts, Tracil Thomas, Delecia Edwards, Lorita Williams, Natalie Bellarmine, Arianna Edwards, Cleoma Simon, Martha Dandrade, Mary Dandrade, Omerfia Edwin, Nickleen Robinson, Sherlyn Bellarmine, Eulander Carter and Andrea Roberts.
Adanye Jerome, the five-year-old son of the dorm mother, was also among those who passed.
Apart from the CoI, President Ali had announced that the victims’ families would be compensated by the State and offered short-, medium- and long-term support. For three months, mental health teams were asked to work in the communities while plans were in the pipeline to establish a strong mental health team permanently.
