The fire that ripped through a boarding school dorm in Guyana and killed 19 children, all but one of them Indigenous girls, was deliberately set by a student angry that her cell phone had been confiscated, authorities said Tuesday.
The fire broke out at 10:50 p.m. Sunday in a bathroom area, authorities said. Deputy Fire Chief Dwayne Scotland said at the time that the fire was “intentionally set,” a conclusion that investigators confirmed on Tuesday.
“When firefighters arrived on the scene, the building was already completely engulfed in flames,” Guyana’s Fire Service said in a statement. “Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to the relatives and friends of those young souls.”
