3-year-old perishes after fire ravages Albouystown apartment

… “Where’s the baby?” – neighbour recalls asking

Three-year-old Amanie Abrahams lost his life after a fire ripped through the family’s Cooper Street, Albouystown, Georgetown apartment in the wee hours of Monday. At the time of the blaze, the lad along with his two other siblings ages, four and 11 was at home alone.

Based on reports received, the children’s mother, Tandica Bailey who is a clothes vendor left home at about 07:00h to ply her trade along Regent Street thus leaving the three children at home.
However, at about 01:36h, when she was about to head home, she was informed via a telephone call that her house was on fire. The woman rushed to the scene where she saw her eldest child and the four-year-old who informed her that after the fire started, they ran out of the house leaving Amanie lying on the bed in the room.
The Guyana Fire Service (GFS) was contacted and the fire was eventually extinguished after which the charred remains of the three-year-old were discovered in the bedroom area.
When Guyana Times visited the area later that day, a neighbour recalled that if it had not been for her, the fire would have been much more catastrophic. In tears, she said she helplessly heard the child screaming from the burning building.
“To tell you the truth, if it wasn’t for me, the alarm, the whole block would have caught. The whole block would have caught… Around one, or two, I could average, I was on the landing, drinking. Shortly after, I heard the little child hollering, ‘Help, help,’ but the paling tall. I couldn’t see the little child. The little child couldn’t see me. When I peeped at the back, I saw the chair with fire. I ran downstairs.”
The woman stated that apart from the mother who was at work, the grandmother who normally takes care of the children was also not at home. Some of the residents rushed into the burning house and managed to rescue two of the children.
According to the neighbour, upon seeing the flames, she immediately contacted the fire service, which arrived some 30 minutes later.
She related that while awaiting the arrival of the firefighters, a group of residents formed a bucket brigade to put out the blaze but the heat was too intense.
“I even left my own kids in my house and ran downstairs to get a bucket of water when I saw the fire starting in my neighbour’s house. But I didn’t even get through to get the bucket. While I was trying to out the fire, the neighbour’s son kicked down the door, trying to get the other child, and they didn’t get the other one, because the front door didn’t open.”
Conscious of how many children were in the house, she added that when the other neighbours were trying to rescue the children, she was yelling for them not to forget to look for little Amanie.
“I was the only one who saw the child, and I knew the little baby was in there. And I kept hollering, ‘Where’s the baby? Where’s the baby? The baby’s down there.’ A girl, she came around, went to help, brought out the two, and they were trying to get the other one because he was trapped in the fire.”
While there are speculations about how the fire started, the GFS has launched an investigation into the fatal fire.
(Misheal Henry)