Sofia Menchu, “‘Nightmare’ scenes as Guatemala children shelter fire kills 35” (2017)

“A fire that raged in a home for abused children in Guatemala killed at least 35 people, mostly girls, and doctors on Thursday described their shock at the severity of the burns suffered by two dozen more hospitalized victims.”

“‘I’ve been doing this for 29 years. What I saw yesterday was a scene from Dante,’ said Juan Antonio Villeda, director of the San Juan de Dios hospital, where victims with extremely serious burns were being treated. Villeda was alluding to the 14th-century poem The Inferno by Italian author Dante Alighieri that depicts punishments suffered in Hell.”

“The fire broke out on Wednesday in a wing of the government-run Virgen de la Asuncion home near San Jose Pinula, 25 km (15 miles) southwest of Guatemala City, as some residents allegedly set mattresses ablaze after an escape attempt the night before.” — Sofia Menchu, “‘Nightmare’ scenes as Guatemala children shelter fire kills 35,” Reuters, March 8, 2017.