Fire destroys East Canje house; 4 homeless

Four persons are now homeless after a fire destroyed their house in East Canje, Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).

The fire, which reduced the wooden structure to rubble, was initially seen coming from the back of the building situated at Adelphi New Scheme, shortly after 18:30h on Sunday.

At the time, no one was at home.

Rookmanie Nowrang said her husband had gone to work, and she had gone to her mother’s home a few buildings away to spend the night with her two children, age 12 and 9.

Whilst there, the woman said she heard a neighbour screaming and sounded an alarm, thinking that she and her kids were in the burning building.

The woman explained that the building was not connected to the national grid. The one-bedroom house was powered by a generator.

Meanwhile, her husband Saeed Jahoor, a labourer attached to the Albion Sugar Estate, said even though he uses gasoline to power the generator, it was not being stored close to the building.

This is yet another tragedy to hit the family in recent times. Only one month ago, a teenage son of the couple had gone missing in neighbouring Suriname after reportedly falling off of a fishing boat he was working on.

The family is hoping to be able to rebuild their house and can be contacted by telephone numbers 604-2933 or 726-8681.