11 vehicles burnt as fire guts Lusignan auto workshop

An auto mechanic is left counting his loses after a fire ripped through his autobody workshop located at Dentist Street, Lusignan, East Coast Demerara (ECD), destroying some 11 vehicles belonging to customers.

The blaze reportedly started around 8:20h on Thursday, and it took the joint efforts of public-spirited citizens and the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) to bring it under control.
The popular workshop was completely destroyed leaving millions of dollars in losses.
The cause of the fire is unknown, but according to Shiv Latchman, the owner of the workshop, he was at Enmore, ECD, when he received a phone call informing him that the shop was on fire.
“One of the guys them called me say that the place is on fire. So, I left what I was doing, and when I come, this is what I reach. I don’t know what started the fire or where the fire started from; all of them tell me is that it started at the back of the house,” he said.

Latchman further stated that, “all what they said was that they hear noise and see smoke and try to bring out the rest of the vehicles that were in the shop, and that was it. There are millions of losses, and all my equipment, materials – millions lost. I had about 10 or 11 vehicles that everything burns. Plus, the vehicle on the road, parts for the vehicle was in the house”.
According to witnesses, they heard a loud explosion followed by the huge fire.
Speaking with Guyana Times, a customer who lost his $6 million vehicle in the inferno said he only heard of the blaze when he called to inform the auto mechanic that he was bringing a part to be replaced on his car.
“Actually, we were out on the road now getting parts for the vehicle, because the vehicle is a brand-new vehicle. The vehicle is a 2019 vehicle which was involved in an accident about two months ago, and there are no parts in the country for that vehicle. It is a Honda City. So, we had to access parts either from Japan or Brazil because they have a company there that makes parts for Honda, but because of the coronavirus, we were not able to source any parts. So, we decided to get a private person who made some inroads in terms of getting the parts, and we went to the Bank this morning (Thursday) to get the monies, because the parts came up to quite a sum,” he explained.
As such, he called the person to tell him that he would drop the money for the part, but instead had to rush to Lusignan where he saw his vehicle destroyed by fire. The depressed customer noted that his vehicle was new and he had not insured it.
Meanwhile, the workshop’s employees managed to save three vehicles, but the rapidly spreading fire and accompanying intense heat prevented them from saving the others.
Latchman had been operating his business at the location for the past two decades. He also confirmed that the business was not insured.