A Guyanese man and his 12-year-old nephew died on Sunday morning after a fire engulfed their Brooklyn, New York apartment home.
Dead are 33-year-old Shawn Monderson and Ceimon Fraser, who both died from smoke inhalation.
According to the New York Newsday, the fire was reportedly started by a candle that was lit in another apartment in the building. Further investigations by the New York fire officials revealed that a smoke detector in Monderson’s apartment had been unplugged and the battery removed.
Monderson’s relatives told the newspaper that he and his nephew had only moved into the apartment last week.
Fraser, they said, was only living with his uncle, who was employed as a bus driver, because his mother had returned to Guyana.
Frank Monderson, uncle of Shawn Monderson, said that his nephew, who had just become a US citizen, was like a father to the 12-year old and he was upholding a family tradition of looking out for family members.
However, the family was left in a quandary since they are unsure if they can afford to pay for the funeral arrangements.
Meanwhile, Newsday said Sunday’s fire followed the death of five nationals from the Dominican Republic who perished in a blaze at the family’s Chelsea, Manhattan apartment on Saturday. In this fire a couple and three of their children died.
The lone survivor was a 10-year old who was hospitalised with critical injuries. The six family members were found unconscious huddled in the bathroom and bedroom of their apartment. Like Monderson and Ceimon, the five also perished from smoke inhalation, according to Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for the city medical examiner’s office.
Saturday’s fire was the deadliest in the city since March 2007, when a fire in the Bronx resulted in the death of ten people.
