GUATEMALA CITY, March 10 (Reuters) - Two more girls died from wounds suffered in a fire at a home for abused children in Guatemala that has now killed at least 37 people, mostly girls, hospital officials said on Friday.

More than a dozen victims of the fire are still hospitalized in critical condition, according to spokesmen at two hospitals in Guatemala City. The two girls died overnight, they said.

The fire broke out on Wednesday in a tiny room at the government-run Virgen de la Asuncion home near San Jose Pinula, 25 km (15 miles) southwest of Guatemala City, where a group of girls had been locked up after a riot. (Reporting by Bill Barreto; Editing by Bernadette Baum)</s>By JOSE LOPEZ and SONIA PEREZ D. Associated Press SAN JOSE PINULA, Guatemala - The death toll in a fire at a troubled youth shelter in Guatemala rose to 31 Thursday as a dozen more girls died at hospitals overnight and details began to emerge of a tragedy sparked by angry, neglected youths seeking to flee terrible conditions. Nineteen girls were found burned to death or dead of smoke inhalation in the rubble of a dormitory fire fueled by foam mattresses Wednesday.

Start the conversation, or Read more at KOLD-TV Tucson.</s>GUATEMALA CITY: The number of girls who died after a fire at a Guatemala children's shelter rose to 39 on Saturday, with several still in critical condition after one of the country's worst tragedies in recent years.

Authorities at the Roosevelt Hospital in the capital Guatemala City, said two girls died on Saturday from grave burn injuries from Wednesday's fire at the government-run shelter for abuse victims, young offenders and children with disabilities.

The case has been a scandal in Guatemala, especially after it emerged that the girls had been locked in a classroom after an escape attempt at the home. The girls set mattresses on fire to try to call someone's attention.

Thousands protested against the government in the streets of Guatemala City on Saturday, reading the names and ages of the dead girls.</s>Charred-stained dolls placed on a bed of charcoal is part of artists’ installation placed at the front gate of Presidential House, in remembrance of the victims of a fire at a youth children, in Guatemala City, March 9, 2017. (AP Photo/Luis Soto) Charred-stained dolls placed on a bed of charcoal is part of artists’ installation placed at the front gate of Presidential House, in remembrance of the victims of a fire at a youth children, in Guatemala City, March 9, 2017. (AP Photo/Luis Soto)

The number of girls who died after a fire at a Guatemala children’s shelter rose to 39 on Saturday, with several still in critical condition after one of the country’s worst tragedies in recent years. Authorities at the Roosevelt Hospital in the capital Guatemala City, said two girls died on Saturday from grave burn injuries from Wednesday’s fire at the government-run shelter for abuse victims, young offenders and children with disabilities.

The case has been a scandal in Guatemala, especially after it emerged that the girls had been locked in a classroom after an escape attempt at the home. The girls set mattresses on fire to try to call someone’s attention. Thousands protested against the government in the streets of Guatemala City on Saturday, reading the names and ages of the dead girls.</s>SAN JOSE PINULA, Guatemala (AP) — A fire swept through the female section of a crowded children’s shelter near Guatemala City early Wednesday and officials said at least 21 girls died and dozens more were injured.

Photos from inside the shelter showed blue sheets covering sneaker-clad bodies and bits of foam mattresses in what appeared to be a smoke-stained dormitory room.

Weeping, distraught relatives waited outside the walled facility for news of their children. Shelter personnel gave them pieces of paper to write down their children’s names so they could try to locate them.

The head of Guatemala’s social welfare agency, Carlos Rodas, said youths at the shelter started rioting Tuesday in an effort to escape. Complaints about abuse and living conditions at the overcrowded shelter have been frequent.

Then on Wednesday, about 9 a.m., “Some of the adolescents lit their mattresses on fire,” Rodas said. “We don’t shirk responsibility, we accept it, but we can’t get those lives back.”

Julia Barrera, spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office, said late in the day that at least 20 children and teenagers perished. Two hospitals said they received 41 injured girls between the ages of 13 and 17, many with second- and third-degree burns. Dr. Carlos Soto, director of Roosevelt Hospital, said some of the injured had life-threatening burns.

A short time later, Sharon Avila, the spokeswoman for Roosevelt Hospital, said the 21st victim had died there.

Rodas said the shelter had an official capacity of 500, but was housing at least 800 youths.

The federal government said in a statement that it had fired the shelter’s director. It also said that before the fire the government had asked that youths with criminal records housed at the shelter be moved to other facilities, but that had not occurred.

A 15-year-old girl being treated for minor injuries at Roosevelt Hospital said the uprising followed rumors of an escape attempt. Some boys, or even young men who were still housed at the center after turning 18, entered the girls’ area, she said. She said she fled to her dormitory’s roof with others fearing the boys would attack them.

Early Wednesday morning the fire began. “I saw the smoke in the place. It smelled like flesh,” the girl said.

Mario Cruz, spokesman for volunteer firefighters, said the fire appeared to have started in one of the girls’ living areas and spread to another dormitory.

The government-run shelter, known as the Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home, is in a rural area outside the capital. The campus is surrounded by trees and a 30-foot wall. It houses at-risk children who were victims of abuse as well as youths who completed sentences at youth detention centers and had nowhere else to go.

President Jimmy Morales’ office said there would be three days of mourning and issued a statement confirming at least 15 deaths and said the cause of the fire was under investigation. The president held a moment of silence to mark the tragedy during a previously scheduled event to commemorate International Women’s Day.

Attorney General Annabella Morfin said children in a protective situation should not be housed with children who have problems with the law and called for an investigation of those responsible.

Jorge de Leon, Guatemala’s human rights prosecutor, said in a statement that at least 102 children had been located after escaping from the shelter and more had managed to flee. De Leon said younger children fled the shelter because they were being abused by the elder children.

“According to what they say, the bigger kids have control and they attack them constantly,” de Leon wrote. “They also complain that food is scarce and of poor quality.”

He called on authorities “to evaluate whether it is appropriate to have these different groups concentrated in one place.”

In 2013, a 14-year-old girl was murdered at the facility. Investigators said the girl was strangled by one of the other residents.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>A blaze that killed at least 34 girls at a shelter for troubled youths erupted when some of them set fire to mattresses to protest rapes and other mistreatment at the badly overcrowded institution, the parent of one victim said Thursday.

Officials said they are still investigating who started the fire Wednesday at the long-criticized shelter on the outskirts of Guatemala’s capital. It houses troubled and abused boys and girls as well as juvenile offenders.

Nineteen victims were found dead at the scene, and 15 more succumbed one by one to their grisly injuries at hospitals in Guatemala City. Several more girls were fighting for their lives, some with severe burns over more than half their bodies.

The fire started when someone ignited mattresses in a dormitory that held girls who had been caught the day before during a mass breakout attempt, authorities said.

On Thursday, distraught parents haunted hospitals and the morgue, passing scraps of paper scrawled with the names of loved ones they hoped to find.

Geovany Castillo said his 15-year-old daughter Kimberly suffered burns on her face, arms and hands but survived. She was in a locked area where girls who took part in the escape attempt had been placed, he said.

“My daughter said the area was locked and that several girls broke down a door, and she survived because she put a wet sheet over herself,” Castillo said.

“She said the girls themselves set the fire,” he said, adding: “She said the girls told her that they had been raped and in protest they escaped, and that later, to protest, to get attention, they set fire to the mattresses.”

Another surviving 15-year-old girl said that male residents had apparently been able to enter at least some of the girls’ dormitories before the fire. She and others took refuge on a roof for fear of being attacked and saw the fire break out in a nearby building.

“I saw the smoke in the place,” she said. “It smelled like flesh.”

The state-run Virgin of the Assumption Safe House has long been the subject of complaints about abuse, inadequate food and crowded and unsanitary conditions behind its 30-foot wall. The shelter was built to hold 500 young residents but housed at least 800 at the time of the fire.

Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales issued a statement blaming the disaster on the courts for ignoring a request by his administration to transfer juvenile offenders out.

“Before the fire, the government had asked the appropriate authorities to immediately transfer youthful offenders to other detention centres, to avoid greater consequences,” the president’s office wrote.

“The government regrets the fact that those authorities did not heed that request in an opportune way, something which could have prevented the tragedy.”

Jorge de Leon, Guatemala’s human rights prosecutor, said in a statement that during the mass breakout the evening before the fire, at least 102 children who escaped had been located, but others managed to flee. He said younger children fled the shelter because they were being abused by older residents.

“According to what they say, the bigger kids have control and they attack them constantly,” de Leon said. “They also complain that food is scarce and of poor quality.”

In 2013, a 14-year-old girl was strangled by another resident, investigators said.

Authorities said DNA tests might be necessary to identity some remains. A doctor at one hospital asked parents waiting outside for information to come back with photographs, dental records and details about tattoos or other distinctive features.

Piedad Estrada, a street vendor, arrived with a photograph of her 16-year-old daughter. She said the teen was pregnant and had been at the shelter for nine days because she ran away from home.

Estrada searched at the hospitals and the morgue but got no information. She showed the photo to workers at one hospital, but they said they had five girls who were completely bandaged so they could not be sure.

“They only took her from me to burn her,” Estrada said. “I blame the state for what has happened.”</s>Guatemala's president called for a restru... . Relatives and friends carry the coffin containing the remains of youth shelter fire victim 17-year-old Siona Hernandez, to the home of Siona's mother in Ciudad Peronia, Guatemala, Friday, March 10, 2017.

Start the conversation, or Read more at WLOX-TV Biloxi.</s>SAN JOSE PINULA, Guatemala (AP) — A fire swept through the female section of a crowded children’s shelter near Guatemala City early Wednesday and officials said at least 22 girls died and dozens more were injured.

Photos from inside the shelter showed blue sheets covering sneaker-clad bodies and bits of foam mattresses in what appeared to be a smoke-stained dormitory room.

Weeping, distraught relatives waited outside the walled facility for news of their children. Shelter personnel gave them pieces of paper to write down their children’s names so they could try to locate them.

The head of Guatemala’s social welfare agency, Carlos Rodas, said youths at the shelter started rioting Tuesday in an effort to escape. Complaints about abuse and living conditions at the overcrowded shelter have been frequent.

Then on Wednesday, about 9 a.m., “Some of the adolescents lit their mattresses on fire,” Rodas said. “We don’t shirk responsibility, we accept it, but we can’t get those lives back.”

Julia Barrera, spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office, said late in the day that at least 20 children and teenagers perished. Two hospitals said they received 41 injured girls between the ages of 13 and 17, many with second- and third-degree burns. Dr. Carlos Soto, director of Roosevelt Hospital, said some of the injured had life-threatening burns.

A short time later, Sharon Avila, the spokeswoman for Roosevelt Hospital, said the 21st victim had died there. Late Wednesday, the Hospital San Juan de Dios reported another death, raising the toll to 22.

Rodas said the shelter had an official capacity of 500, but was housing at least 800 youths.

The federal government said in a statement that it had fired the shelter’s director. It also said that before the fire the government had asked that youths with criminal records housed at the shelter be moved to other facilities, but that had not occurred.

A 15-year-old girl being treated for minor injuries at Roosevelt Hospital said the uprising followed rumors of an escape attempt. Some boys, or even young men who were still housed at the center after turning 18, entered the girls’ area, she said. She said she fled to her dormitory’s roof with others fearing the boys would attack them.

Early Wednesday morning the fire began. “I saw the smoke in the place. It smelled like flesh,” the girl said.

Mario Cruz, spokesman for volunteer firefighters, said the fire appeared to have started in one of the girls’ living areas and spread to another dormitory.

The government-run shelter, known as the Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home, is in a rural area outside the capital. The campus is surrounded by trees and a 30-foot wall. It houses at-risk children who were victims of abuse as well as youths who completed sentences at youth detention centers and had nowhere else to go.

President Jimmy Morales’ office said there would be three days of mourning and issued a statement confirming at least 15 deaths and said the cause of the fire was under investigation. The president held a moment of silence to mark the tragedy during a previously scheduled event to commemorate International Women’s Day.

Attorney General Annabella Morfin said children in a protective situation should not be housed with children who have problems with the law and called for an investigation of those responsible.

Jorge de Leon, Guatemala’s human rights prosecutor, said in a statement that at least 102 children had been located after escaping from the shelter and more had managed to flee. De Leon said younger children fled the shelter because they were being abused by the elder children.

“According to what they say, the bigger kids have control and they attack them constantly,” de Leon wrote. “They also complain that food is scarce and of poor quality.”

He called on authorities “to evaluate whether it is appropriate to have these different groups concentrated in one place.”

In 2013, a 14-year-old girl was murdered at the facility. Investigators said the girl was strangled by one of the other residents.</s>SAN JOSE PINULA, Guatemala – A blaze that killed at least 34 girls at a shelter for troubled youths erupted when some of them set fire to mattresses to protest rapes and other mistreatment at the badly overcrowded institution, the parent of one victim said Thursday.

Officials said they are still investigating who started the fire Wednesday at the long-criticized shelter on the outskirts of Guatemala’s capital. It houses troubled and abused boys and girls as well as juvenile offenders.

Nineteen victims were found dead at the scene, and 15 more succumbed one by one to their grisly injuries at hospitals in Guatemala City. Several more girls were fighting for their lives, some with severe burns over more than half their bodies.

The fire started when someone ignited mattresses in a dormitory that held girls who had been caught the day before during a mass breakout attempt, authorities said.

On Thursday, distraught parents haunted hospitals and the morgue, passing scraps of paper scrawled with the names of loved ones they hoped to find.

Geovany Castillo said his 15-year-old daughter Kimberly suffered burns on her face, arms and hands but survived. She was in a locked area where girls who took part in the escape attempt had been placed, he said.

“My daughter said the area was locked and that several girls broke down a door, and she survived because she put a wet sheet over herself,” Castillo said.

“She said the girls themselves set the fire,” he said, adding: “She said the girls told her that they had been raped and in protest they escaped, and that later, to protest, to get attention, they set fire to the mattresses.”

Another surviving 15-year-old girl said that male residents had apparently been able to enter at least some of the girls’ dormitories before the fire. She and others took refuge on a roof for fear of being attacked and saw the fire break out in a nearby building.

“I saw the smoke in the place,” she said. “It smelled like flesh.”

The state-run Virgin of the Assumption Safe House has long been the subject of complaints about abuse, inadequate food and crowded and unsanitary conditions behind its 30-foot wall. The shelter was built to hold 500 young residents but housed at least 800 at the time of the fire.

Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales issued a statement blaming the disaster on the courts for ignoring a request by his administration to transfer juvenile offenders out.

“Before the fire, the government had asked the appropriate authorities to immediately transfer youthful offenders to other detention centers, to avoid greater consequences,” the president’s office wrote.

“The government regrets the fact that those authorities did not heed that request in an opportune way, something which could have prevented the tragedy.”

Jorge de Leon, Guatemala’s human rights prosecutor, said in a statement that during the mass breakout the evening before the fire, at least 102 children who escaped had been located, but others managed to flee. He said younger children fled the shelter because they were being abused by older residents.

“According to what they say, the bigger kids have control and they attack them constantly,” de Leon said. “They also complain that food is scarce and of poor quality.”

In 2013, a 14-year-old girl was strangled by another resident, investigators said.

Authorities said DNA tests might be necessary to identity some remains. A doctor at one hospital asked parents waiting outside for information to come back with photographs, dental records and details about tattoos or other distinctive features.

Piedad Estrada, a street vendor, arrived with a photograph of her 16-year-old daughter. She said the teen was pregnant and had been at the shelter for nine days because she ran away from home.

Estrada searched at the hospitals and the morgue but got no information. She showed the photo to workers at one hospital, but they said they had five girls who were completely bandaged so they could not be sure.

“They only took her from me to burn her,” Estrada said. “I blame the state for what has happened.”</s>Family members wait for news of their loved ones after a fire broke at the Virgen de Asuncion home in San Jose Pinula, on the outskirts of Guatemala City, Guatemala March 8, 2017. At least 20 people -- all under the age of 18 -- were found dead Wednesday at the scene of a fire that broke out in a troubled orphanage near Guatemala City.

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The death toll at the fire at an orphanage in San José Pinula, Guatemala, rises to at least 35 children.