A 34-year-old mother and four of her children perished in a fire of unknown origin early this morning at Number 64 Village, Corentyne Berbice. At the time of the fire, the woman’s husband was in police custody assisting with a cattle rustling investigation. Their 17-year-old son, who was also home at the time, managed to escape the fire unharmed.
The burnt building, a two-storey wooden house, property of Rohan Ramjatan called ‘Map Head’, a 36-year-old cattle farmer of Lot 216 No 64 Village, Corentyne Berbice was destroyed, along with an unoccupied wooden and concrete house (owner unknown), situated north.
A police team visited the fire scene at about 03:30 hrs this morning (Tuesday). At the scene, Kevin Ramjatan called ‘Alex’, age 17, (son of Rohan Ramjatan and Hemwatie Singh), stated that at about 02:00hrs this morning, he was sleeping on the verandah, which is situated east of the upper flat of the building, when he was awakened by flames of fire burning from the lower flat of the house where his father’s motor car was parked.
Seeing the flames, he immediately ran down the inner staircase to the lower flat. There, he found his mother, Hemwatie Singh, a 34-year-old housewife, along with his siblings: Kelvin Ramjatan, called ‘Rovin,’ a 14-year-old; Brandon Ramjatan, called ‘Ravin,’ a 10-year-old; Tomesh Ramjatan, called ‘Arvin,’ a two-year-old; and his sister Cindy Ramjatan, called ‘Emily,’ an 11-year-old pupil of New Market Primary School.
All were awake and trying to escape the fire. They attempted to flee the house, but upon seeing the intense flames at the front, they turned back and went upstairs, where they became trapped. They are all believed to have perished in the fire.
Investigations also disclosed from residents in the area that the GPL wire was on fire last week, and again last night, respectively.
No injuries were seen on the 17-year-old who escaped unhurt. However, he claimed that he closed their steel gate on November 11, at about 18:30hrs, and went upstairs. But when he escaped from the fire, the gate was open.
He could not call the police immediately because he did not have a phone, and neither were the neighbours responding. He proceeded to his grandmother’s house in the village and took relatives to the scene. By that time, the entire building was engulfed in flames.
Fire tender #101, headed by Section leader Williams and two crew members, arrived at about 03:35hrs and went into action, and the fire was put out. Among the debris, five burnt bodies were later found, suspected to be the burnt bodies of Hemwatie Singh, Kelvin Ramjatan, Brandon Ramjatan, Tomesh Ramjatan and Cindy Ramjatan.
The remains were escorted to the Skeldon Public Hospital’s Mortuary awaiting post-mortem examinations.
The father, Rohan Ramjattan, was arrested by police in Berbice yesterday afternoon, for a cattle rustling matter, and at the time of the fire was in Police custody. Also, the 17-year-old is currently assisting the police as they continue their investigations into the deadly fire.
