A fire suspected to be of electrical origin yesterday afternoon ripped through the upper flat of a two-storey house located on the main road of Cumberland Village, East Canje Berbice, destroying everything in its path.
According to information gathered, the fire is suspected to have started from the fuse box located in the upper flat of the Lot 133 Cumberland Village house.
Stabroek News was told that Nareema Mohamed, 28, ventured upstairs minutes after 4 pm and noticed a blaze coming from the fuse box and immediately sounded an alarm. To escape the blaze the woman was forced to jump from the verandah to the bottom flat.
The owner of the house, Bibi Shamroon Khan, 51, was downstairs with her son, Zaheer Khan, also known as “Boyo”, 30, grandchildren and other relatives at the time of the blaze.
Residents and passers-by immediately rushed over and started to assist and in a matter of minutes the fire service arrived at the scene and was able to collectively put out the fire and stop the blaze from entering the lower flat of the house, eyewitnesses told Stabroek News yesterday.
Mohamed yesterday afternoon had to be rushed to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, since she was going in and out of consciousness due to the shock of the fire.
This is the second tragedy for the family in a period of two weeks, as only last Sunday the owner of the house, Jameer Khan, was laid to rest.
The fire service has launched an investigation.
