A man is now dead, while his 16-year-old son is being treated at the Georgetown Public Hospital for severe burn injuries after a kerosene lamp exploded in their home at Warren Plantation, located on the Number 19 road, Berbice, on Tuesday evening.
Deodat (only name), also known as ‘Ziggy,’ 58, and his son, Mark Deodat, who suffered severe burn injuries in the explosion, were rushed to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital around minutes to 8pm on Tuesday evening. The senior Deodat succumbed to his injuries on Thursday in the hospital, while his son has since been transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
According to Marky Deodat, 21, the man’s other son, the explosion occurred around 7.30 pm, while his father was lighting their kerosene lamp. Their home, he said, does not have an electricity supply. “He been a go light the lamp and the lamp na get kero. He been a go throw the kero and like he light the match and when he light the match… it blow up,” he said.
He noted that he returned home on Tuesday evening to find the fire. “My mother start scream, ‘Marky run, run,’ that fire take my father and my brother,” he recalled. “When I run, I hustle throw the cloth round him, then my friend them run and hustle with them,” he added.
He explained that neighbours, after hearing his mother’s screams, rushed over and assisted by throwing water on his father, while his teenaged brother dunked himself into a nearby barrel that was filled with water. “The fire stop and we rush them a deh the hospital,” he added.
The distraught man said that while his father sustained severe burn injuries across his entire body, his younger brother was severely burnt on his feet and back.
Deodat also noted that the explosion did not cause much damage to their wooden home. “Just the frame get lil black pot and one, one piece burn out,” he explained.
The senior Deodat, who was a cane harvester, is survived by his wife and two sons.
