A Unity, Mahaica man was last night in a coma and his two-year-old niece nursing third degree burns following a gasoline explosion after he fell asleep with a lit cigarette near the fuel.
Kishan ‘Anil’ Ramdat, a 20-year-old fisherman and his sister’s daughter were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital by his family after the man fell asleep near a gasoline container with a lit cigarette, his father said.
“He come in and light the cigarette and like he fall asleep near the gas. Next thing we hear is boom and see he in a big ball a flame and was he …he was running pass the baby and she catch fire too,” his father Samaroo Ramdat told Stabroek News last night.
He said that his son fainted and fell to ground as he ran, hitting his head in the process and lost consciousness. They doused both him and the infant and a kind neighbour rushed them to the hospital.
Samaroo said that the man had to undergo a series of tests and a CT scan and doctors told him that his son has a 50 percent chance of survival. He said that his granddaughter suffered burns from her neck down to her body but his son’s skin has peeled off from his head to his toes.
Last night he made an appeal to the public to assist him with any donation to pay for the scan which he was told would cost $33,000. Ramdat’s neighbour known as `Broadtail’ can be contacted at 680-8237.
The older Ramdat with tears in his eyes explained that he lost his wife two years ago and that his only son was the main breadwinner for the family. He said that they operated a wooden canoe which they would use daily to catch fish.
He also has a ten-year-old daughter attending primary school and the mother of the burnt baby who is a housewife. “Anything that can help I asking for and thankful for …I not shame I just wondering how I gon pay for this CAT scan and buy anything if he gat to get it,” he said.
