Hemwatie Singh, a 34-year-old housewife, and four of her five children perished in a Tuesday morning fire of unknown origin at the No. 64 Village, Corentyne.
The children who died with their mother are Kelvin Ramjatan, 14; Brandon Ramjatan, 10; Tomesh Ramjatan, 2; and Cindy Ramjatan, 11.
Only the woman’s 17-year-old son managed to escape.
The incident occurred around 02:00 hrs Tuesday.
Police Headquarters reported that the 17-year-old, Kevin Ramjatan, recounted that he was awakened by the flames emanating from the lower flat of the building, where his father, Rohan Ramjatan, parked his car.
Hemwatie Singh and her four children – Brandon, Tomesh, Cindy and Kelvin who perished. Her eldest son, Kevin survived the inferno.
The teenager said he immediately ran down the stairs to the lower flat using the inner staircase. He opened the lower flat door of the house where his mother and siblings were all awake and attempting to escape.
“They tried to run out of the house but as they saw the large flames of fire in front of the house, they turned back and went upstairs (upper flat of the house) and were trapped in the fire,” Police reported.
The teenager managed to escape but said he could not summon Police Officers immediately as he did not have a phone and his neighbours were unresponsive. As such, he went into the village to his grandmother’s house and took relatives to the scene.
The aftermath of the fire (Photo: GPF/ November 12, 2024)
By that time, Police said, the entire building was engulfed in flames.
Fire tender #101, headed by Section leader Williams and two crew members, arrived at about 03:35hrs and went into action, and the fire was put out.
Among the debris, five burnt bodies were later found, suspected to be the burnt bodies of the mother and her children.
The remains were escorted to the Skeldon Public Hospital’s Mortuary awaiting post-mortem examinations.
Meanwhile, Police also reported that the father, Rohan, was arrested by Police in Berbice on Monday afternoon for a cattle rustling matter. He was in custody at the time of the fire.
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