By Luis Morales Chúa
A large fire broke out last night, shortly after twenty-four hours, in the neuropsychiatric hospital, located on 12th Street between First Avenue and Elena Avenue in Zone 1, causing considerable personal injury.
The flames started in the kitchen located near the bedrooms of the women’s section, where more than six hundred patients were sleeping at the time the fire occurred.
A hundred of them managed to escape towards the general patio that overlooks the 12th street, but five hundred or more were trapped by the barrier of flames that prevented them from leaving the bedrooms.
Many patients were burned to death in a terrifying fire that destroyed the neuropsychiatric hospital and part of the general hospital this morning. Fifteen or more were burned and an approximate number of 200 escaped by jumping over walls and windows and were lost in different directions of the capital city.
The start of the fire
The incident began at zero hours 15 minutes and at five in the morning the flames had not yet been extinguished. The thick cloud of smoke that enveloped the ruins of the hospital prevented an exact calculation of the number of deaths.
In the dormitories of the women’s department, many patients were trapped as the flames spread and succumbed. The building—an old mansion inaugurated on March 10, 1890—was almost completely reduced to ashes. Only one wing was saved, in which the sisters of charity, the administrative offices and the pharmacy are located.
The reports submitted to the President of the Republic, who was present at the scene of the tragic event, indicated that at least ten patients – all women – had died. But members of the volunteer fire department who were the first to arrive said the death toll was more than 200.
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This note is part of the commemorative series of our diamond wedding, it is a journey through news that marked the history of Guatemala, with original texts and images from each era, as a reliable testimony of our mission of service.
*Texts taken from notes of editions 2765 and 2766, edited for clarity and space.