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At least 22 dead as fire ravages youth shelter in Guatemala

A woman who learned her child died in a fire is held by her sister outside the children's shelter Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home, in San Jose Pinula, Guatemala, Wednesday, March 8, 2017. At least 19 people have died after a fire at the shelter, which was created to house children who were victims of abuse, homelessness or who had completed sentences at youth detention centers and had nowhere else to go, the spokesman for Guatemala's volunteer fire departments said. (AP Photo/Luis Soto)
A woman who learned her child died in a fire is held by her sister outside the children's shelter Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home, in San Jose Pinula, Guatemala, Wednesday, March 8, 2017. At least 19 people have died after a fire at the shelter, which was created to house children who were victims of abuse, homelessness or who had completed sentences at youth detention centers and had nowhere else to go, the spokesman for Guatemala's volunteer fire departments said. (AP Photo/Luis Soto)

By Associated Press 4 min read

SAN JOSE PINULA, Guatemala (AP) – The trouble started with a mass escape. Dozens of teens held in an overcrowded state-run shelter on the outskirts of Guatemala’s capital flooded through the gates 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, killing at least 22 girls and injuring dozens more, most with second- and third-degree burns.

Distraught 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. At Roosevelt Hospital, Dr. Marco Antonio Barrientos asked parents waiting outside for information to come back with photographs, dental records and details about tattoos or other distinctive features.

Piedad Estrada, a street vendor, arrived at the hospital with a photograph of her 16-year-old daughter. She said the teen was pregnant and had been at the shelter for nine days because she ran away from home.