Disaster puts spotlight on failings in the child protective services agency as thousands take to the streets to protest against the government

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The death toll in a fire at a Guatemalan children’s shelter has risen to 40 with the announcement that another girl ha died of burns.

The death was announced by Roosevelt Hospital in Guatemala’s capital. Nineteen of the adolescents perished at the scene of Wednesday’s inferno and 21 others have died in local hospitals.

The fire began when mattresses were set ablaze during a protest by residents at the overcrowded youth shelter and an attempt to escape.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Candles are lit during a protest to demand justice for the victims of a fire at the Virgen de Asuncion children’s shelter, in front of the National Palace in Guatemala City. Photograph: Saul Martinez/Reuters

Another victim, 14-year-old Ana Roselia Perez Junay, was buried on Sunday as authorities were still searching for answers to the disaster that has put a spotlight on failings in Guatemala’s child protective services, especially after it emerged that the girls had been locked in a classroom after an escape attempt at the home.

Prosecutors’ spokeswoman Julia Barrera has said that the head of the country’s protective services agency was ordered not to leave Guatemala while investigations continue.

Four of the burn victims were flown to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston, Texas, on Saturday. The office of president Jimmy Morales said the Shriners Hospitals had arranged for their transfer.

Thousands of people protested against the government in the streets of Guatemala City on Saturday, reading the names and ages of the dead girls.

On Sunday Pope Francis prayed for the victims in St. Peter’s Square.

He said he was praying and asked others to do likewise “for all the girls and boys who are victims of violence, maltreatment, exploitation and war” in the world.

The pope said: “This is a plague, a hidden cry that must be listened to by all of us. We can’t continue to pretend not to see and not to hear it.”

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report