Mahdia deadly inferno: “Uncle, help! Uncle, help!”– 1st responders recall cries of children trapped in building

At approximately 23:00h on Sunday, Samantha John was alerted by her husband of a fire that engulfed the female dormitory of Mahdia Secondary School in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni).
John, a former Deputy Toshao of Campbelltown, Mahdia and the closest neighbour to the dormitory, recalled her husband’s immediate efforts to save some 56 children who were trapped in the one-flat wooden and concrete building.
“It was already a lot of fire on both sides when my husband said, ‘Samantha, the dorm is on fire!’ …He run out and went to help the children there,” John said in a social media post on Thursday.
“When he go in, the door was open and he run in, snatched some children and run out in the smoke. It was fire from the front, the smoke heading to the back. And he went and saved how much he could save,” John explained.

“He saw some of the children that he couldn’t save hollering ‘Uncle, help! Uncle, help!’ and he couldn’t help them,” she lamented.
Following the fire, 18 female students between the ages of 12 and 17 died as well as the five-year-old son of the dormitory’s caretakers.
John added that while some reports stated that the dorm mother was not present at the scene, this was totally a false accusation.
“People are saying the dorm mother was not there. She was right there with some of the children,” John said.
“[I] asked [her] if all your children are safe. She said no, some of the children are trapped in there, my baby is in there, too… And I started to cry, because I feel her pain – the children there are like my children and I feel for them. I love them and I care for them,” John said.
John also said that statements claiming that the five doors of the building were locked were also false.
“They are saying how the door was locked. When my husband went there to the dorm, the gate was locked, no guard was there. My husband opened the gate. When he went in, the door was open and he run in,” she said.
The Guyana Fire Service (GFS) in a Monday press release stated that the 26 windows of the building were heavily grilled and the five doors were locked with keys.
“Fire moved really fast. We had no time to think to do this, to do that, they tried and just saved a few. We are in pain, we are grieving,” John said.

Medevac
For medical personnel Gillian Allicock, this experience “hit home” as she was a former dorm student of St Ignatius Secondary School in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
“I remembered having to travel hours from home (Surama) to St Ignatius, about one-hour-[and]-30-minute drive now because of good roads, but back then was more like six to eight hours because of how bad the road used to be, leaving the comfort and safety of home, your loving family just to get a better education and break generational curses and trends,” Allicock said in a Monday social media post.
“I can proudly say that we have managed to break generational curses and trends, which is why I can now be part of this rescue medevac team today,” she added.
According to Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Chief of Staff Brigadier Omar Khan, during a press conference, the medical evacuation [medevac] operation was a concerted effort requiring resources from the Health Ministry, Joint Services, and the Private Sector, and involved five aircraft, six ambulances, and more than 80 personnel specialising in emergency response, medical care, and security.
Head of the Georgetown Public Health Corporation (GPHC) Burn Unit, Dr Shilindra Rajkumar led the medical team in assessing the injuries of the children and determining those who were required to be transported to the country’s national referral hospital.
These efforts were overseen by National Security Advisor, Captain Gerry Gouveia and spearheaded by President Dr Irfaan Ali who received incoming patients at the Eugene F Correia International Airport, Ogle before being shifted to the hospital.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Gouveia related immediate efforts taken to organise the safe evacuation of the victims.
“[When] the Trislander [aircraft] departed, I instinctively knew, and by memory clear as day, what the pilots would have to do to penetrate the dark, stormy skies. I did it countless times myself,” Gouveia wrote.
“The pilots would have to have nerves of steel as they hold the aircraft steady and wings level as they descend into the darkness that night,” Gouveia continued.
Pilot Learie Barclay, who flew this first flight out, described the experience as “hellish” in a social media post.
“What happened last night [Sunday] was like a bad dream…hellish…and will stay with me for the rest of my life as I am one of the few from the coastline to actually see the effects up close and personal,” Barclay said.
“These children needed to be stabilised before departure. A fire is not just burns, but smoke inhalation and lung damage. What I saw come out of the lungs of one is indescribable,” Barclay added.
Six children were initially air-dashed to the GPHC on Monday – one was rushed to the Operating Theatre (OT) to undergo limb-saving surgery, two received ventilation support in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the remaining three were in less critical condition and were aided in the Paediatric High Dependency Unit (HDU), a step-down from the ICU.
Since then, some 20 girls have been discharged from the hospital, while nine remain. Two are still in critical condition in the ICU and one is in the Burn Care Unit receiving treatment for burns over 40 per cent of her body. (Pooja Rambaran)