Latest update February 16th, 2025 7:49 PM
Latest News
- Oil in Liza 1, 2 and Payara to be drained in less than five years
- ExxonM does not deny paying taxes in Bahamas but tells K/News to focus on how the oil deal is delivering money to Guyana
- Thousands take part in London rally against Donald Trump’s Gaza plan
- Govt. aggressively pursuing digitizing of health sector – Pres. Ali
- 275 cases of child abuse recorded in 2025 – Min. Persaud
Fire guts De Willem business place
– nine homeless, over $20 M in losses
Nine persons were left homeless and an electronic store was destroyed following a fire of unknown origin at Lot 111, De Willem, West Coast Demerara yesterday morning.
Businessman Shawn Nabiyahbi
Kaieteur News was told that the fire started shortly after 09:30 hrs yesterday and quickly gutted the building which houses a welding shop, and cell phone and a computer stores.
Nageshwar Sitaram, who is now homeless, said that his family, who lived upstairs, had left their home sometime around 07:30hrs. They were participating in a religious ceremony at the seawall when they received a message saying that their house was on fire.
Sitram said that they immediately rushed home, but by that time the entire house was in flames, making it impossible to save anything.
“We only have the clothes on our backs…and we have nowhere to go,” Sitaram told reporters yesterday.
This newspaper was told that a cousin known as “Joey” was asleep in the building when the fire started.
Sitaram said that the cousin barely managed to escape from the building.
He estimated their loses at over $15M because the family had a well furnished home and a welding shop downstairs.
He explained that three high-powered generators were lost, along with a number of computers and countless other electronic appliances.
In addition, $3M cash was consumed in the flames.
Meanwhile, businessman Shawn Nabiyahbi said that the only thing he can do is start over.
Nabiyahbi operates the SD Computers and Cell phone store which is located below the Sitaram’s house. He was renting the space for the past two years.
The young businessman was out when a close friend contacted him by phone to inform him about the fire.
Nabiyahbi said he immediately rushed to the store and saw the entire building engulfed in flames. He estimates his losses in the millions and had no insurance.
Neighbours who were present yesterday speculated that since there was no blackout in the area the fire was probably started by a lighted diya that was accidental left in the house.
Nageshwar Sitaram, one of the victims
The Burnt out building
A neighbour recounted that someone saw smoke emanating from the building. An alarm was raised and the fire service was summoned.
They arrived promptly but reportedly ran out of water. The fire service is still continuing their investigations.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
I don’t remember!
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- I have an uncle, Morty Finkelstein, who has the peculiar habit of remembering things with... more
CARICOM Nations Should Respond Together To new U.S. Policies
By Sir Ronald Sanders Ambassador to the US and the OAS, Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News-Two Executive Orders issued by U.S.... more
Weekend Cartoon
