(Jamaica Gleaner) The parish of St Ann was thrown into a state of shock on Saturday as residents awoke to the news that five teenagers, wards of the state, perished in a fire that engulfed a section of the Armadale Juvenile Correctional Centre in Alexandria, Friday night.
Ten others suffered burns and were rushed to the St Ann’s Bay Hospital; one was later transferred to the Kingston Public Hospital in critical condition.
Three of the victims were 17 years old and two were aged 15 years.
“She’s trembling like a leaf in there right now.”
With bloodshot eyes and overflowing grief in his voice, Ransford Gibbs struggled to come to grips with the horrific situation that could’ve ended his daughter’s life.
“A St Mary mi a come from. Mi first reaction was fi call the place and every time me call the place them nah answer, so the only thing me haffi do a sell out the whole a mi jewellery dem affa mi finga and reach up yah,” Gibbs stated, explaining how he responded to the news.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding, along with other officials, including Security Minister Dwight Neslon, Police Commissioner Hardley Lewin and member of parliament for South West St Ann, Ernest Smith, toured the facility early Saturday.
The Prime Minister ordered the facility closed immediately, expressing shock at its deplorable condition.
Golding also ordered an enquiry into what caused the blaze and named retired Justice Paul Harrison to lead the commission of enquiry.
About 1 p.m. Saturday, two Toyota Coaster buses arrived at the location to remove the girls to the Stony Hill Heart Academy where they will remain until repairs to Armadale are completed.
It is unclear what caused the fire but reports are that the blaze started even while the police were on the scene quelling a disturbance which broke out earlier among the girls at the facility.
The police were summoned about 7 p.m. It is alleged the police were attacked with stones by the teens on their approach.
It is further alleged that tear gas was used to try and keep the girls in order. Later, it was discovered that a section of the building that housed 23 of the 61 young women at the institution, was on fire.
It is believed the fire was started by some of the rebellious teens.
The fire quickly spread to engulf a section of the building, trapping some of the girls.
Efforts by the lawmen to rescue them were met with partial success, as they managed to drag several of the girls through barricaded windows.
However, five of them were unable to escape. Their charred remains were discovered after a unit from the Brown’s Town Fire Station had put out the blaze.
The hellish incident is the culmination of increasingly unruly behaviour by the girls at Armadale, stretching back over the past year or so, where the police have been called in to quell disturbances or to apprehend escapees.
Tears flowed freely from parents, family members and friends of the victims, who arrived on the scene in the course of the day.
