At least 22 girls have been killed in a fire at a shelter for abused youths in Guatemala after residents set mattresses ablaze following an attempted escape.
The fire started after a group of young people were locked in dorms at the overcrowded centre after a mass break-out on Tuesday night.
Local media reported that riot police were called to “isolate” individuals after dozens flooded out of the gates to escape the poor conditions of the centre.
The state-run Virgen de Asuncion home for youths aged up to 18, in San Jose Pinula, takes in abandoned children and ex-offenders as well as victims of abuse and trafficking.
Nery Ramos, head of Guatemala's national police, said officers are trying to establish whether any of those isolated were involved in the fire – which started after mattresses were set alight in the girls’ section.
Pictures of the scene show burnt bodies partially covered in blankets strewn across the floor of a blackened room in the home.
As well as those killed, hospitals reported about 40 people being treated for burns. The country has entered a three-day period of national mourning.
"What happened is extremely serious, and even more so for the fact that it could have been avoided," Anabella Morfin, Guatemala's solicitor general said. "This should never have happened."
Grieving relatives – who have gathered outside the home waiting for information about their children - said abuse was common at the centre and that younger children tried to flee from older residents who “regularly attack” them.
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Domestic worker Alicia Lopez, 50, waited for hours trying to find out what happened to her autistic 12-year-old son who came to the centre with a drug addiction. She said he had been raped there last week.
"I still don't have information.... I want justice for him," Lopez said.
The Virgen de Asuncion home has long suffered from overcrowding, with Guatemalan media reporting that more than 500 people were crammed into the center designed to house 400.
The attorney general's office has promised an investigation into the cause of the blaze.
