At least five fishermen’s shacks located along the shores of the Ogle, East Coast Demerara seawall have been destroyed following a fire which occurred on Christmas Day.
There have been no reports of casualties.
According to Sugrim Ram, a fisherman who lives close to the shacks that were destroyed, he left his home around 4 pm and was told that the fire started around 5.30 pm.
He said he heard about the fire around 7 pm from a friend and by the time he reached the scene the fire had already destroyed at least five shacks. He said during the afternoon, the area was deserted as everyone had gone to spend Christmas with their families.
He said three of the destroyed shacks were usually occupied by men, who he identified as ‘Fowl,’ ‘Khan’ and ‘Biggs.’ He added that the shacks were owned by Suraj Ramchandar Bernard and Jerome Perreira, Vickram Etwaroo and ‘Khan.’
Ram said that all of the men who reside in or own those shacks are fishermen and for those he mentioned, the shacks are used as temporary lodging whenever they need to go out to sea in the wee hours of the morning. However, he said, most of their fishing and boat equipment is stored in those structures.
When Stabroek News visited the area yesterday, smoke could still be seen rising from the burnt area. Several burnt boat engines and fishing nets were also seen scattered about the area.
Etwaroo, 38, when contacted by Stabroek News said that he lost one boat engine, which be bought for $450,000 dollars, several fishing baskets and a quantity of tiles.
He related that he was spending Christmas Day with his four children and wife at their Better Hope, East Coast Demerara home and wasn’t expecting anything like that to happen as all of the shacks had little or no electrical equipment, considering they were only used temporarily. When he was informed about the fire, he said he rushed to his shack in order to save his equipment. He added that when he arrived, the shacks were in flames but he still tried pulling his boat engine to no avail. He said Police told him that investigations are currently ongoing and up to yesterday afternoon they hadn’t yet determined the origin of the fire.
