Death toll in youth centre fire hits 31

THE DEATH toll from a fire at a troubled youth shelter in Guatemala has risen to 31 as a dozen more girls died at hospitals overnight.

Details began to emerge of a tragedy fuelled by angry, neglected youths seeking to flee terrible conditions.

Nineteen girls were found burned to death in the rubble of a dormitory fire fuelled by foam mattresses on Wednesday.

Twelve of the 39 residents injured later died at hospitals, said Adrian Chavez, the assistant health minister.

Of the 27 girls still in hospital, 10 are in critical condition with life-threatening burn injuries, often covering more than 50% of their bodies.

The inferno grew out of a mass escape attempt.

Dozens of teenagers held in an overcrowded state-run shelter on the outskirts of Guatemala’s capital flooded through the gates on Tuesday evening, most only to be caught and locked down in their dorms.

On Wednesday morning someone set fire to mattresses in the girls’ section of the rural campus, authorities said.

The blaze quickly spread through two dorms.

Distraught parents waited outside hospitals and the shelter, a state-run facility that accepted abused, neglected or homeless children, but also housed youths who had completed sentences at juvenile detention centres.

Parents scribbled their children’s names on pieces of paper to pass to shelter staff begging for information. They went to the two local hospitals and the morgue. Authorities worked to identify victims, but said DNA tests might be necessary for some remains.