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Mom,
five children die in fire
-- trapped in heavily grilled house By Joe Chapman (Photos, courtesy Guymine.com)
Dead
are Melanie Ronnet Gonsalves Moore, 30, her children, Akia December, 10,
Melina, 7, Marcus, 4, Mervin, 3, and baby boy Malayah, who was close to
celebrating his second birthday. The
fire, which started at around 07:00 h is believed to have been of
electrical origin. One
of the children was burnt beyond recognition. His charred body was found
in one of the bedrooms, while the others were discovered in the washroom
along with their mother. Two
were found in cramped positions while the two others were found lying face
down on the floor.
After
hearing their screams for help from the burning building, firemen and
neighbours tried to break down the doors to get in and save them. Eventually,
someone got a pick axe which was used, but by then all had perished. The
doors were bolted from inside and padlocked and would-be rescuers could
not prise them open. From
all appearances, the fire started in the south western section on the top
floor. Two
persons, who lived with the family, were asleep downstairs and were able
to escape. One
of them is a relative, Claire McCalman, of 17 East La Penitence in
Georgetown. She
said she awoke to find smoke all over the place and she ran out of the
building not knowing that the others were upstairs. Scores
of residents were gripped as the horror unfolded before their very eyes
and neighbours related hearing cries by the children for help but could
not render any assistance.
He
was expected to return with his wife to the United States while the
children were to be left to attend school here, relatives said. The
family had migrated to the United States just a couple of years ago. Some
residents were dismayed that the Fire Service tenders showed up with very
little water to douse the raging fire. Soon
after the tenders left to be refilled, it was discovered that a few yards
away in the street there were a number of fire hydrants and water from one
of these was eventually used to bring the fire under control. After
the first body was found, efforts were made to remove the others from the
building. There
were screams and gasps from the large crowd which had gathered outside at
the scene as the bodies were brought out of the building. This
fire reminded residents of one in the early 1980s when three members of a
family in Amelia's Ward died after flames gutted their home. It
also brought back memories of several school children who perished when a
Dodge Ram bus virtually exploded in 1994 on the Linden Highway in Kara
Kara. day, September 03, 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
