Two Guyanese suffered serious injuries in a fire in Richmond Hill on Saturday. A fireman also suffered serious injury. Two fire stations were called in to put out the raging fire which gutted the top two floors of the Guyanese-owned three-story structure at 95-86 113th Street.
Morgan Sookhoo was severely burned from head to toe and is battling for his life at the city’s top hospital for burns. He was initially taken to nearby Jamaica hospital but later rushed to the Cornell Burn Center in Manhattan. His wife, Sandra Narine, and her cousin Marissa Singh, escaped serious injuries. They were on the top floor when the fire broke out and managed to escape.
Marissa jumped through a window from the top floor into an open blanket held by several people on the ground. On the way down, Singh hit an air conditioner injuring her hip. The blanket was ripped when she landed. She was taken by ambulance to Jamaica hospital where she is listed in stable condition.
Sandra Narine escaped through a back door. Her husband, Sookhoo, was asleep when the fire started. Reports say he opened a door but on seeing black smoke he closed it back. Sandra shouted to him to jump through the window but he had collapsed after inhaling too much smoke.
An Indian national, Sukhdev Singh, who rents the first floor, said the fire started in his apartment from a heater. He said he was awakened by his aunt who told him there was a fire in the room. “I saw fire coming from a heater”.
Singh said he put a blanket on the heater which did not stop the fire.
The Fire Department was summoned. It took the department 35 minutes to bring the fire under control.
