Mahdia Tragedy: Family’s hope shattered with passing of Sherana Daniels

The sister of 13-year-old Sherana Daniels who on Tuesday succumbed to injuries sustained during the Mahdia dorm fire says the teen girl was the biggest encouragement for the family.

Trishana Daniels, 16, who attended the school along with her sister but survived the inferno, related the family’s deep regret and sorrow by the death.

Trishana and her family had hoped the teen would recover. “She always pushes we to be who we want to become,” she noted.

Trishana said her mother, Cleste Samuels is stricken with grief and remains in a state of mourning. Relatives bandied together at the Georgetown Public Hospital on Tuesday to comfort each other.

Doctors said the teen girl suffered with injuries related to carbon monoxide inhalation and suffered cardiac arrests on two occasions.

Trishana related that when she arrived at the hospital to visit her sister, a doctor asked her if she knew her sister’s condition was not better and she said yes. She was then taken into the room where she saw her mother crying.

“When I meet in [the room] mommy went crying and she tells me “your sister left we’.”

On May 21, the fire rippled through the school’s girls’ dormitory at about 23:00hrs. Trishana recounted the night of the fire and said, “When I run out, I start asking everybody if they see my sister and I eventually start crying.”

The girl’s brother who was staying in the boys’ dormitory went to find Sherana and eventually told her that she (Sherana) was in the dining hall. Unfortunately the teen was not well.

“A couple of minutes after he (her brother) come back and tell me how she deh in the dining hall.

“I feel relieved because I thought nothing ain’t happen to she when then I when I meet, she was lying down and groaning,” Trishana said.

Sherana was initially pronounced dead hours after the inferno but the death toll had to be revised since she was successfully resuscitated and flown to the city for medical attention.

She was among several girls who survived and were patients at the GPHC. One was flown overseas at the weekend for critical care in New York.

A total of 19 girls perished in the blaze and a 5-year-old boy. Four of the 19 girls have already been laid to rest.