Nine persons are now homeless after their two-storey house was gutted by fire last night in Parika, Est Bank Essequibo.
Samantha Johnson, 38, and her husband Sean Delph, along with three children, lived in the bottom flat of the wooden house while Tani Burrow, and her two children along with another lived in the upper flat of the building.
While the origin of the fire is still unknown, and Johnson and her family were not home at the time it started, it was reported to Stabroek News that the fire began in the bottom flat. One neighbour explained that they heard a loud explosion before seeing thick smoke and eventually fire spew out of the building.
Burrow and her family were upstairs at the time of the incident and they were forced to jump through the windows because of the blaze and were injured in the process. They were rushed to the Leonora Hospital and were treated for minor injuries.
While the fire service was unable to save the building from the blaze, they were able to prevent the fire from spreading to the two nearby houses.