The Dhaka Times Desk A fire at a government girls' orphanage in Guatemala has killed 19 teenage girls. At least 25 people were seriously injured in this incident.
Citing fire service officials, international media reported that 19 teenage girls were killed in a fire at a government girls' orphanage in Guatemala. However, the authorities are yet to know how the fire started. Police say that some of the residents of the ashram may have set the fire. One of the parents waiting outside the building said the same.
Before this, there was a riot in that ashram last Tuesday. Later, the police reached the spot and brought the situation under control. At that time, allegations of abuse of children were also heard inside the ashram. Minor residents of the ashram complained to journalists that they were regularly beaten and sexually assaulted.
Authorities say that about 60 children fled the ashram during the riots. Some of the runaway children said that they fled the ashram after the riots because of threats and punishment from the authorities.
According to the BBC, the ashram, designed for victims of torture and trafficking, and abandoned children, has a rule that one can stay until the age of 18. According to local media sources, the ashram was also used as a juvenile correctional center.
It should be noted that although this government ashram in San Jose Pinula, a city southeast of Guatemala City, has a capacity of 400, there were about 700 girls, children and adolescents there last year.
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