Image copyright AFP Image caption A victim of the fire is brought to a hospital in San Jose Pinula

Nineteen teenage girls have died in a blaze at a children's care home in Guatemala, officials say.

About 25 other people were injured in the fire at the Virgen de Asuncion shelter in San Jose Pinula, about 25km (15 miles) south-east of the capital, Guatemala City.

Police said the blaze may have been started by some of the residents.

On Tuesday, police officers intervened after a riot broke out at the home. About 60 children escaped.

Some alleged they had been mistreated or sexually abused.

'Over-capacity'

Oscar Franco, a spokesman for the volunteer firefighters, told local media: "At least 25 people were injured and transferred to hospitals and we have confirmed 19 bodies."

All those who died were aged between 14 and 17.

The fire ripped through the facility in minutes.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Anxious relatives gathered outside the shelter

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Following the fire, police secured the site, which had previously seen a riot

Nery Ramos, the head of Guatemala's national police, said the fire was started by a group of young people at the shelter.

Firefighters battled to contain the flames as desperate family members arrived at the scene to try to find their loved ones.

After the blaze, images showed burned bodies covered by blankets lying in one of the blackened rooms.

The children who fled on the eve of the fire said it was due to poor conditions and mistreatment following the riot, which left the facility damaged.

The UN children's fund in Guatemala said on Twitter it "condemns the tragedy", adding: "These children and adolescents must be protected".

Local reports say the capacity of the home is 400, but that many more children were living there at the time.

The shelter takes in children up to the age of 18 who have suffered abuse or trafficking, or have been abandoned.

But local media say the shelter was also functioning as a juvenile detention centre, to which judges were sending adolescents involved in criminal cases.

A deadly fire at a children's home in Mexico in 2009 left 49 dead.</s>SAN JOSE PINULA - At least 19 girls were killed in a fire on Wednesday in a government-run home for abused teens, Guatemalan police said, with local media reporting that dozens of residents had escaped the overcrowded home following a melee overnight.

A crowd of relatives, many of them wailing with grief, gathered outside the Virgen de Asuncion home for children up to 18 years old, in the municipality of San Jose Pinula, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of the capital Guatemala City.

Nery Ramos, the head of Guatemala’s national police, said at the scene that 19 people, all girls, were confirmed dead.

“This is a painful situation,” he said, adding that the fire was started by a group of young people at the center.

Plagued by Latin America’s highest rates of child malnutrition and street gangs like the Mara Salvatrucha that often prey on minors, Guatemala has long been a traumatic place to grow up. Conditions in public institutions are often dismal with widespread overcrowding.

Burnt bodies partially covered in blankets were strewn across the floor of a blackened room in the home, pictures posted to Twitter by the firefighters showed.

On Tuesday night, riot police were sent in to quell unrest over the crowded living conditions at the home during which some 60 residents escaped, images on Guatemalan television news showed.

Local media said more than 500 children lived there, despite its capacity to hold only 400.

Pablo Castillo, a spokesman for Guatemalan police, told Reuters that 38 children had been transferred to local hospitals with burns, some of them severe.

Outside the home on Wednesday, Andrea Palomo told reporters in tears that she had brought her 15-year-old son to the home to discipline him. But he told her he was mistreated and complained that gang members there tattooed the children, she said.

“We have been given no information since last night,” Palomo said outside the home, which takes in children who have been abandoned as well as victims of abuse and trafficking.

The home is run by the Ministry for Social Welfare and the attorney general for human rights decides whether children are placed in the home or not.</s>GUATEMALA CITY (AP) A spokesman for Guatemala’s volunteer fire departments said at least 19 people were found dead at the scene of a fire in a shelter for children near Guatemala City on Wednesday, March 8.

Mario Cruz told the Emisoras Unidas radio station that firefighters were still extinguishing parts of the morning blaze.

He said about two dozen people were being treated for injuries.

The shelter has been criticized for overcrowding, alleged abuse, and escapes in the past.</s>At least 19 people died in a fire at a shelter for abused children in Guatemala on Wednesday, firefighters said. The cause of the blaze was not immediately known, nor was the number of children among those killed. Commanders have “informed us that they have already counted 19 people deceased” in the Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home located in San Jose Pinula, a village just to the east of the capital, the fire services spokesman, Mario Cruz, told reporters.

Another 25 people were injured, suffering burns of various degrees. They were taken to state hospitals in Guatemala City. Initial reports suggested that some of the children and teenagers in the shelter had protested overnight against poor food and treatment by staff. The center, supervised by state social welfare authorities, hosts minors under age 18 who are victims of family maltreatment or found living on the street. It has been the target of multiple complaints alleging abuse, and several children have run away. The country office of the UN children’s fund UNICEF said on its Twitter feed it “condemns the tragedy” and emphasized: “These children and adolescents must be protected.”</s>Guatemala's volunteer fire department has reported 19 people dead and 25 injured following a fire at an orphanage in the Las Anonas area of San José Pinula, Guatemala.A spokesman for the volunteer firefighters told local radio station Emisoras Unidas that 11 girls from the orphanage have been transferred to the San Juan de Dios general hospital, with nine in critical condition and three undergoing surgery, reports the AP.A further six children were transferred to the Roosevelt Hospital with first and second degree burns.According to Leonel Dubón of the Children's Refuge charity, there had already been calls by the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission ( PDH ) for the orphanage to be closed.</s>At least 19 people were killed in a fire on Wednesday in a Guatemalan home for abused children, a spokesman for firefighters said.

The Virgen de Asuncion home is in the municipality of San Jose Pinula, some 25km southwest of the capital Guatemala City and houses children of up to 18-years-old.

Oscar Franco, spokesman for the voluntary firefighters, told reporters that 19 people had died and at least 25 had been injured in the blaze.

Guatemalan media said that, on Tuesday, about 60 minors had escaped from the home, which takes in children who have been the victims of abuse and trafficking or abandoned.

Local media also said 540 children live in the home, despite the fact it only has the capacity to hold 400.</s>At least 19 children died and 20 others were injured in a blaze at a shelter in Guatemala on Wednesday, BBC reported. Officials said they were trying to determine the cause of the fire, which engulfed the Virgen de Asuncion home in San Jose Pinula.

On Tuesday, police officers were deployed to handle a riot-like situation at the care home, during which 60 children are believed to have escaped the premises. Allegations of the inmates being mistreated or sexually abused were also made, according to BBC.

According to local reports, the shelter was overcrowded. Most of the children there are victims of abuse or trafficking or were abandoned.</s>At least nine minors died from burns after a fire at a shelter in Guatemala for children who had been victims of violence, firefighters said on Wednesday.

The Virgen de Asuncion home is in the municipality of San Jose Pinula, some 25 kilometers southwest of the capital Guatemala City and houses children of up to eighteen years old.</s>GUATEMALA CITY— At least 19 people have been found dead at the scene of a fire in a shelter for children near Guatemala City, the spokesman for Guatemala’s volunteer fire departments said Wednesday.

Mario Cruz told the Emisoras Unidas radio station that firefighters were still extinguishing parts of the morning blaze.

But he said that so far 19 bodies have been found and about two dozen people were being treated for injuries.

The shelter has been criticized for overcrowding, alleged abuse and escapes in the past.</s>Firefighters in Guatemala say that at least 19 people have died in a blaze at a children's care home about 25km (15 miles) south-east of the capital, Guatemala City.

About 25 others were injured in the fire at the Virgen de Asuncion shelter in San Jose Pinula.

It is unclear what caused the blaze.

On Tuesday, police intervened after a riot broke out at the home. About 60 children escaped. Some allege they have been mistreated or sexually abused.

Oscar Franco, a spokesman for the volunteer firefighters, told local media: "At least 25 people were injured and transferred to hospitals and we have confirmed 19 bodies."

One police officer said the fire had started with burning mattresses and that the other minors were being taken to safety.

Anxious relatives have gathered outside the shelter.

The children who fled on the eve of the fire said it was due to poor conditions and mistreatment following the riot, which left the facility damaged.

Local reports say the capacity of the home is 400, but that many more children were living there at the time.

The shelter takes in children up to the age of 18 who have suffered abuse or trafficking, or have been abandoned.

But local media say the shelter was also functioning as a juvenile detention centre, to which judges were sending adolescents involved in criminal cases.
A fire breaks out at an orphanage in San José Pinula, Guatemala after students protesting conditions including alleged sexual and physical abuse set fire to their bedding, killing at least 19 children.