Blaze kills 22 girls at children’s centre

A FIRE has swept through the female section of a crowded children’s shelter near Guatemala City, killing at least 22 girls and leaving dozens more injured.

Distraught relatives waited outside the walled facility for news of their children. Shelter personnel gave them paper to write down their children’s names so they could try to locate them.

The head of Guatemala’s social welfare agency, Carlos Rodas, said youths at the shelter started rioting in an effort to escape. Complaints about abuse and living conditions at the overcrowded shelter have been frequent.

Then “some of the adolescents lit their mattresses on fire,” Mr Rodas said. “We don’t shirk responsibility, we accept it, but we can’t get those lives back.”

Julia Barrera, spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office, said at least 20 children and teenagers had perished.

Two hospitals said they received 41 injured girls between the ages of 13 and 17, many with second and third-degree burns.

A short time later, Sharon Avila, spokeswoman for Roosevelt Hospital, said the 21st victim had died there. Later, the Hospital San Juan de Dios reported another death, raising the toll to 22.

Mr Rodas said the shelter had an official capacity of 500, but was housing at least 800 youths.

The federal government said in a statement it had fired the shelter’s director.