The child who was badly burnt in a fire at his Enmore, East Coast Demerara home yesterday succumbed to his injuries around 3 am today.
Timmy Ramlogan, the father of three-year-old Tony in confirming the death said that the doctors told him that the boy’s general condition was very bad and that he could not recover from the injuries.
The grief-stricken man said that his son was just too badly burnt during the blaze which started in a bedroom he was sleeping in.
Timmy said that relatives are making preparations for his funeral which will be held on Friday.
Divisional Commander Gavin Primo confirmed that the child’s mother was in police custody assisting with the investigation.
Primo said that, according to reports, the child was sleeping alone in a bedroom while his mother was in the kitchen. The woman told investigators that she next saw fire coming out of the room and an alarm was raised. Thereafter, Primo said, residents formed a bucket brigade and were able to quell the flames.
After engulfing the bedroom, the fire spread to the ceiling in the living room area of the two-storey wooden structure. Residents managed to contain the fire to that area. The bedroom, where the child was asleep when the fire broke out, was black and only the blackened bed frame remained.
The boy’s father, Timmy, told Stabroek News that he operates a taxi near his home and so when he got the news that there was a fire at his house, he rushed there immediately. When he arrived, his badly burnt son was handed over to him and he drove him to the hospital. The man said that most of his body was burnt as was his hair.
At the scene yesterday, a next door neighbour said she was alerted to the fire by her son’s shouts. On looking out, she said she saw “red, red fire” coming from the front window of her neighbour’s house. The woman said that persons were just standing in the yard looking on but it was her shouts that got them busy. “I start shouting for people to go get bucket and throw water pon de fire,” she recalled, adding that she was unaware that the child was trapped inside until the mother started screaming.
The neighbour said that after the flames erupted, the woman ran outside and started shouting for help.
She said that young men with buckets climbed on to an extension of the building, which is near the window, and started throwing water inside.
Residents yesterday commended two men, “Crapo” and “Roti” for their bravery. One resident explained that the two men braved the flames and climbed through the window to save the boy.
Stabroek News was told that the child, “whose body was white,” was so terrified that he did not make a sound when he was passed through the window by the rescuers.
“If them neighbours didn’t help is de whole house woulda bun down,” one resident said, while adding that the mother was cooking in the kitchen, located a short distance from the bedroom, when the fire started.
Residents said they were clueless as to how the fire started, since there was only a bed in the room where the child was and there were no blackouts or low voltage in the area. They all prayed for the child’s quick recovery.
Police are investigating the incident.
