At least 20 people, many of them children, were killed when a fire engulfed a dormitory at a school in central Guyana, the government said on Monday.

Several others were injured in the blaze, which broke out overnight in the town of Mahdia, about 120 miles southwest of the capital, Georgetown, including seven students who were in critical condition and were being evacuated by plane as part of a “a full-scale medical emergency action plan,” the government said in a statement.

“We have lost many beautiful souls in that fire,” the statement said.

President Mohamed Irfaan Ali of Guyana was “supporting efforts” to receive and treat the survivors, who were being flown to Ogle airport, also known as Eugene F. Correia International Airport, in the capital, according to the statement.

Images posted by a local news outlet showed a glowing plume of smoke rising from the blazing building at the Mahdia Secondary School.