–says his only focus was getting the children to safety

PARTIALLY clothed and awakened by shrilling screams, nearby resident, Parkinson John, rushed to the Mahdia Secondary School female dormitory to rescue the victims who were trapped by the massive fire.

In a video that has recently surfaced on Facebook, John opened up and spoke about what that dreadful Sunday night was like for the residents of Mahdia, especially first responders like him.
Within the video, the man said that while he was initially awakened by loud screams, he said that they gradually turned into cries. John then alerted his wife about the sounds coming from the dorms since he was worried.

Although not properly clothed, without any hesitation, the man said: “I run down the stairs and straight up to the dorms.”

John remarked that when he arrived at the scene, he saw the security guard already making efforts and after he sped past the guard, he just started to pick up the trapped children, in order to rescue them.

He added that as he was traversing back and forth, he could hear the screams and cries from all directions.

“But [with] the height of the screaming…. some start screaming close to me, so I start [to] just grab,” he remarked, saying that the only thing on his mind was to get the children to safety.
He added: “I get on no pants, no shirt, I [was] just going,” and he was even stumbling throughout the ordeal.

John also recounted that while he was carrying the last victim, he began to feel weak and dropped her, but he said that as he was about to leave, he told himself to go back, and when he returned in his frail state, he pushed through and brought the child to safety.

Additionally, he said that attempts were made to break the grills but it was futile so he told the other helpers: “I going back in the fire again,” after he heard another victim screaming at the top of her lungs to be rescued.

“It ain’t easy hearing somebody screaming for help,” John expressed while recounting the horrific incident.

Meanwhile, police investigations so far into Sunday night’s deadly Mahdia fire, which claimed the lives of 19 persons, have revealed that a female student is suspected to have set the fire because her cellular phone was taken away by the dorm’s mother and a teacher.

At the time of the fire, there were 57 female students in the dormitory, a one-flat concrete building measuring about 100 feet by 40 feet, with several windows, all grilled, and five doors.