Death toll in Guatemala fire rises to 38 girls

Women carry the coffin containing the remains of 17-year-old Siona Hernandez Garcia, a girl who died in a fire at the Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home, at the Guatemala City's cemetery, Friday, March 10, 2017. Families began burying some of the 36 girls killed in a fire at an overcrowded government-run youth shelter in Guatemala as authorities worked to determine exactly what happened. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) (The Associated Press)

Women cry during a burial of 14-year-old Madelyn Patricia Hernandez Hernandez, a girl who died in a fire at the Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home, at the Guatemala City's cemetery, Friday, March 10, 2017. Families began burying some of the 36 girls killed in a fire at an overcrowded government-run youth shelter in Guatemala as authorities worked to determine exactly what happened. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) (The Associated Press)

GUATEMALA CITY – Hospital officials say the death toll has risen to 38 girls in a fire that began when mattresses were set ablaze during a protest by residents at a youth shelter.

Authorities at the Roosevelt Hospital where many of the girls were taken for treatment of their burns said Saturday that another girl had died. Nineteen of the adolescents perished at the scene of the Wednesday inferno and another 19 died later in local hospitals.

Various groups have said they plan to gather Saturday to protest the deaths and demand the resignation of Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales.

The president has blamed the government's "rigid" and "insensitive" system for dealing with troubled youths and has promised to reform protective services for some 1,500 minors currently living in youth shelters around the country.