A 19-year-old labourer perished in a mysterious fire which destroyed a two-bedroom house in the De Willem, West Coast Demerara (WCD) squatting area on Saturday night.
Dead is Satesh Jagmohan. Stabroek News understands that the teen was sleeping when the house caught on fire at around 11:30pm. This newspaper was told that Jagmohan was trapped in the house and unable to escape the blaze. The wooden house belonged to his uncle who is currently working in the interior. It is unclear how the fire started.
The teen’s father Ramdhanie Jagmohan told Stabroek News that by the time they became aware of the fire, it was too late as the entire interior of the house was ablaze. He recounted that he tried to create a hole in the wall in an attempt to save his son but his efforts were in vain due to the intense heat and strong scent of kerosene.
“Meh try breaking into the house to help meh son but I couldn’t…all over I coulda smell kero. All around was blazing. I couldn’t go back because the entire house was on fire,” the grieving father said. He opined that the blaze was caused by arson since there was evidence of kerosene. The house did not have electricity. Another relative said that Satesh did not usually light any lamp as he would only go there to sleep.
Meantime, neighbours told Stabroek News that they were awoken by screams coming from Satesh’s parents’ house, which is in front of the same yard.
A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said he was awoken by his wife and quickly rushed to render assistance. “When I jump and look over, the entire house was in flames…I see the fire coming out…it looked as if the fire started from inside of the home,” he said.
The man related that two fire trucks from the Leonora Fire Station responded and worked to quench the flames. However, by the time the trucks had arrived, the building had already been consumed by flames.
The charred remains of Satesh’s body was found on the bed he was sleeping on.
Guyana Fire Service Operations Manager Compton Sparman told Stabroek News that they have not yet determined the origin of the fire. He said that members of the Fire Prevention Unit will return today to conduct further investigations at the site.
The family is willing to accept any assistance and can be contacted at 277 0086.
