The five victims of last week’s deadly Corentyne fire were laid to rest at the No. 63 Cemetery, Corentyne Berbice on Sunday.
Hundreds of mourners turned out to pay their respects to the grieving family of a mother and her four children who perished after their Corentyne home went up in flames. Notably, there were no Government or regional officials in attendance.
Those who gathered to bid their final farewell broke down in tears as the five coffins bearing the victims’ bodies were being taken out of the yard and placed into two hearses. Several touching tributes were offered, including a written one from Kevin Ramjatan, the son of the deceased woman.
The tribute was read by a family friend of Hemwattie Singh, the children’s mother.
In the poem, ‘Alex’ expresses love and appreciation for everything his mother has done for him and taught him.
The 17-year-old was the only survivor of the fire which took the life of his mother and his siblings Kelvin Ramjatan, called “Rovin”, 14; Brandon Ramjatan, called “Ravin”, a 10-year-old living with a disability; Cindy Ramjatan, called “Emily”, 11, a student of New Market Primary School; and Tomesh Ramjatan, called “Arvin,” a two-year-old.
Chairman of the 52-63 Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), Hemraj Gansham took the opportunity to call on the community to live in harmony and with love.
“Rather than building walls, we need to build bridges. We need to open our hearts to one another, we need to develop empathy, we need to encourage resilience, and we need to develop community-mindedness. These are the things that we have to build and when we do this it will help us to change our society and the community where we are living. All of us, have a responsibility not only for ourselves but for our community, and if we can turn around a new page from today onwards and say that we would open our hearts to assist our neighbours.”
The five coffins carrying the bodies of the now dead woman and her four children
The NDC Chairman said it hurts him to see so many persons grieving but requested them to ask God for the strength to overcome the current challenges.
“We need to beg God for that peace and that comfort and for the deceased so that they can have a resting place,” he added.
Last Tuesday, two houses were destroyed by fire. It was reported that the 17-year-old survivor was asleep on the verandah of the upper flat when he was awakened by the sound of an explosion and the crackling of a fire.
The teen ran downstairs to where his mother and siblings were located and noticed that they were already awake and trying to escape from the burning building.
The family tried to run out of the house, but the intense heat generated by the flames forced them to turn back and head upstairs, where they were left trapped.
Autopsies conducted on the bodies of the five victims by Government Pathologist Dr Vivekanand Bridgemohan gave the cause of death as inhalation of fire fumes.
