School fire in Guyana leaves at least twenty dead and several injured

A school fire in Guyana has left at least twenty dead and several injured. The event took place during the early hours of Monday morning when a dormitory at the high school in the southwestern city of Mahdia, located 200 miles from Georgetown, was engulfed in flames:

The country's Department of Public Information released the news in a brief press release. In it they announced that twenty people had died and that among the deceased there were several teenagers. They also reported that seven seriously injured people had been transported by medicalized helicopters to Georgetown Hospital:

Guyana's president, Irfaan Ali, was quick to react to the tragic news and declared, through a statement posted on Facebook, that it was a "great catastrophe": "It is terrible, painful."

The country turned out in force to help the secondary school in Mahdia. According to the Department of Public Information, a total of five aircraft were dispatched to the scene to assist local doctors and medical personnel with additional medical supplies and needed aid.