Two young children were burnt to death in an early morning fire that ripped through a three-storey building early on Monday morning at the corner of Robb and King Streets in Georgetown. Their charred remains were found just after sunrise as the investigators moved through the ashes of the building. Their identities have not been revealed.
The building was once occupied by former Minister of Home Affairs under the PNC Government, Jeffrey Thomas. It is believed to be at the centre of a dispute. Several small businesses and retailers were housed in the building.
Persons in the area said a man and two children lived in the top flat of the building. The man was seen jumping from the building after neighbours raised an alarm. He was unable to take the children with him.
It is unclear how the fire started, but some sex workers who operate nearby said they saw a dark coloured car pulling off from the building just before they noticed smoke and the fire.
The Guyana Fire Service received emergency calls just after 2am and three fire tenders rushed to the scene from the Alberttown and Central Fire Station. The firemen quickly contained the blaze to the one building. The old wooden building was quickly engulfed and nothing was saved from any of the small businesses that were housed in it. The fire men were aided in their battle against the blaze by an early morning downpour that lasted for over 10 minutes.
The owner of one of the businesses those businesses appeared confused as he arrived on the scene just before 3am. The man said the owner of the building was out of the country at the time and he had lost everything.
An elderly woman who lives across the road said she was awakened by her son’s screams of “fire fire” and after calling the fire service, she quickly hurried out of her building as a precaution. She said she was not going to take any chances. Her son explained that he noticed smoke bellowing from the building and he told his mom to call the fire service as he peaked out of his window. He said he left his house just after his mom.
Senior Fire officer, Compton Sparman told News Source that the fire service’s main objective was restricting the blaze to the one building and they were able to do that early. He said a number of other businesses are located closeby and it was important to control and contain the blaze. He said the fire service also received another call of a fire on Regent Street but that report was false.
An investigation has been launched.
Filed: 17th November, 2014
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