The partly burnt body of a visually impaired elderly North Ruimveldt man was yesterday morning discovered in his home, minutes after his neighbours put out a fire in his kitchen where he was reportedly cooking at the time.
Seventy-three-year-old Edward Bowen had lived alone at his 2467 North Ruimveldt home for the past few years. Neighbours recounted that it was shortly before 11 am that smoke was seen emanating from the back of the man’s home. An alarm was raised and they dashed to the house to see where the man was.
“We run over and we see fire at the back of the house and we start collecting water from the neighbour yard and we start throwing. But it was hard to beat them flames but we try hard,” one of the men who participated in the bucket brigade told Stabroek News.
He said that as they beat the fire back, they noticed the elderly man’s body covered in flames. Eventually the fire was brought under control and they managed to drag Bowen out of the house, but realized that he was already dead since several parts of his body were severely scorched.
The neighbour said Bowen was lying in his kitchen when they saw him and he opined that the man might have lit his stove to cook. He said the majority of the flames were behind and around the stove.
“I think he probably start cooking and like he lef the stove on and fall to sleep. But all his clothes was on fire. But our fire brigade worked well and we do we thing long before the fire truck come,” he recounted .
When this newspaper arrived on the scene the Guyana Fire Service’s tender was there. However, the fire had already been put out and neighbours were heard discussing among themselves, the way in which the man had died.
They recounted that he had lived by himself since the death of his wife many years ago and would hardly be visited by relatives.
Part of the man’s body was visible at the front of the doorway where he was placed by the men who extinguished the flames in his kitchen. Curious neighbours filled the yard to get a glimpse of the man’s body but the crowd peacefully dissolved following intervention from investigators on the scene.
His son Roger Bowen positively identified the body which was later taken away by attendants of Lyken’s Funeral Home.
Roger Bowen said he received a call that the house was on fire and rushed to the scene. It was not until he arrived there, however, that he realized that his father had died in the house.
Determined
Roger Bowen described his father as a determined individual who preferred to do everything for himself rather than contact relatives for any help. “He was sort of resentful of family and would hardly want us around and that’s why he lived alone here,” he said.
He said it was sad how his father died especially since efforts were made to have someone live with him, but he refused.
He explained that he and his siblings have made countless efforts to visit his father and keep the family bond. However, he said, he learnt that someone had been frequenting his father’s home and rendering assistance.
Edward Bowen was a father of four children and a grandfather of 12.