Parents, teen son die in Cummings Lodge fire

Tragedy struck in the East Coast Demerara village of Cummings Lodge on Saturday afternoon when a mother, father and their son died after being trapped in their home when fire engulfed the building.

Dead are Beverly Miller, 40; Martin Lewis, 46 and their 14-year-old teen son Dawall Ifill, all of E-Half Sixth Street, Cummings Lodge, ECD.
Reports are the fire started at about 17:45h in the building which housed several apartments. Initially, no one suspected that anyone was trapped in the building.
However, it was after the occupants of the home started inquiring if everyone was safe that relatives began looking for the couple and their son.
When this publication arrived at the scene, firefighters were attempting to recover the charred remains of the trio.

Cleon Williams, nephew of the dead woman said after he realised that his aunt and her family were trapped in the building, he tried everything he could to save them but there were too many grills for him to be able to break in and free them
“I really tried, I really tried but I couldn’t,” the man said, still in shock.
Also, speaking with Guyana Times, Lewis’ sister, Coretta Woolford said that she was in front of the house selling at her “stand”, when she heard someone screaming and it was then that she noticed that the house was on fire.
“I run and I run and take out my baby and my stepdaughter. I couldn’t run to front…I start to think what to do and I break out the neighbour fence to push my children and the children from the upper flat into the neighbour yard,” the shaken woman said.
The building was divided into nine apartments, with 28 persons living there.
As tears flowed down her face, Woolford said, “My brother, his wife and their son get trapped and they burn to death.”
At the scene, relatives and neighbours all gathered in disbelief as they consoled each other.
The family only moved into the apartment in March. Another relative told the media that the property was in dispute between the relatives of its owner who died recently. A man who was said to be the landlord’s grandson, who was seen earlier at the apartment where the fire started has been arrested.
When undertakers arrived to remove the family’s bodies, they were found clenched together, as though they were hugging. The Guyana Fire Service have since launched an investigation.