Debris from deadly Mahdia school fire used to fill potholes in community

In a shocking decision, some of the debris from the Mahdia School Dorm fire, which claimed the lives of 20 children, has been used to fill potholes in the Region Eight community, leaving many villagers upset.

The Regional Executive Officer for Region Eight, Peter Ramotar admitted this morning that he gave permission for some persons to use “some of the crumbled walls” to fill potholes in the community. However, he said he withdrew that permission once other persons in the community found it to be insensitive and objected to the decision.

“Its not all of the debris we are talking about, the crumbled walls, it’s the concrete walls that crumbled during the fire and had to be removed. Initially, it was the Campbelltown people that requested, that is the village nearby, if they could have used some of the concrete broken walls to fill potholes. Initially, we gave them that permission but then we understand that there were some concerns, we withdraw it and then we disposed of the broken concrete elsewhere, as well as the other debris”, the REO explained.

Twenty children lost their lives when a late night fire ripped through the female dormitory at the Mahdia Secondary School on the 21st May.

19 children were trapped and killed in the inferno, while the 20th victim passed away while being treated at the Georgetown Hospital.

The deadly fire shocked the nation, and led to three days of national. An investigation of the fire led to another child from the same school being charged for 20 counts of murder. She remains in custody.

There has always been concern about the way the fire scene was handled by the authorities. Hours after the fire and even before the investigations were completed, Government and other officials visited the scene and were photographed walking around the area without any protective gear.

A criminal defence attorney who specializes in forensic matters, had raised serious concern about the scene not being properly protected.

Now with the debris from the scene of the fire, being used to fill potholes in the community, more questions are likely to be asked.

The Regional Executive Officer insisted that not all of the debris was used to fill potholes.

“I, as REO went ahead with that…but we disposed of it otherwise when people felt, it was not the proper thing to do, we disposed of it elsewhere”, he told News Source.

There have been calls for a full Commission of Inquiry to be conducted into the school dorm fire. President Irfaan Ali has agreed that a Commission of Inquiry will be held, and he has already identified retired Major General Joe Singh, as the person to head the Commission of Inquiry.

Terms of Reference for the COI are still to be finalized.