Massive fuel explosion at Port Kaituma

Apr 05, 2014 News

Four boats, house and bonds destroyed

A trawler unloading smuggled fuel exploded at the Port Kaituma waterfront shortly after 07.00 hrs yesterday, triggering a massive fire that destroyed three other vessels, a house, and two bonds which were also stacked with illegal fuel.
The blaze lasted for about four hours before residents, armed with pumps and buckets, and using water from the river, prevented the flames from spreading to other nearby properties.

18 year old Donald James was burnt during the explosion .

However, residents said that up to late last night, the trawler was still on fire.
The blaze is said to have started when an 18-year-old pump attendant, identified as Donald James, was using a defective pump, which began to emit sparks that ignited the fuel.
James sustained burns to his abdomen, hands, chest and feet and was admitted to the Port Kaituma Hospital.
Chief Fire officer Marlon Gentle, who visited the scene with a team or fire service and army personnel, blamed the smuggling of fuel for the destruction.
He told Kaieteur News that all four vessels were laden with gasoline and diesel fuel suspected to have been smuggled from Venezuela. The fuel is vital to the gold mining community.
Gentle also said that there were several shacks and plastic drums with fuel in the area. He said that it is fortunate that no one was seriously injured.
“People are endangering others by bringing illegal fuel. All the boats (that were damaged) had diesel and gasoline smuggled from Venezuela.
“It could have been worse. The area is not regularized. I am glad that I did not have to put my men in harm’s way.”
Kaieteur News was told that the injured attendant, Donald James was pumping fuel from a ‘big boat’ which some residents identified as a trawler, into barrels on a truck, when the pump reportedly ‘backfired’ and started to spark.
According to a source, on seeing the sparks, the workers on the ‘fuel boat’ jumped off the vessel, which exploded within minutes. The blaze quickly spread to three small boats as well as to two fuel bonds and a one-bedroom house containing a small shop. The building is owned by Shawn Waddell, who was in the interior at the time, and his spouse, Christine Higgins.
“This fire started so fast. The big boat exploded and then huge balls of fire pitched into the water and all the boats which were nearby get burn up too,” an eyewitness to the fire explained.
Christine Higgins, who lost everything in the blaze, said that she was inside her home talking to her nephew when she heard a loud explosion.
“I peeked at the back and I see this large smoke and I run out the house.”
The woman added that she looked on as her home and business place went up in flames.
Ms. Higgins and other residents alleged that the pump that the attendant was using was defective, and was prone to emitting sparks.
“This is not the first fire but it is the biggest one. That pump does catch fire very often and people don’t do anything about it. The pump don’t work good.”
Another female resident who owns a wash-bay told Kaieteur News that she was at home when she saw clouds of black smoke by the waterfront. She then heard explosions.

Residents douse the blaze during yesterday’s explosion.

“I knew that it was a boat burning and that it was an oil boat,” she said.
The woman said she immediately alerted her husband and other residents, and headed to the scene with a pump from her wash-bay. She explained that the burning trawler was located near to Ms. Higgins’ home, and heavy winds caused the flames to spread from the trawler to Ms. Higgins house, which was eventually destroyed.
But the woman said that her husband, with water pump in hand, clambered onto two other homes and prevented the flames to spreading to them. Other residents, with water pumps, also assisted in containing the blaze.
She said that many other buildings would have been razed had residents not acted quickly.
Fire Chief Gentle had said that a similar fire had occurred last year, and the woman confirmed that about two other fuel boats caught fire in recent years.
The woman said that she had recently spoken to former Commissioner of Police Winston Felix about the danger the fuel boats and illegal fuel at the waterfront presented to the community.
She said that there was need for a fuel station at Port Kaituma.
Fire Chief Marlon Gentle said that the fire service got their first call at about the fire at around 07.45 hrs.
“I deployed a team with the Guyana Defence Force…we deployed at around 10.20 hrs and by 11.00 hrs we had men on the ground, but by then the fire was done. That gives you an idea as to the quantity of fuel that was on the ground,” Mr. Gentle said.
The Fire Chief said that they have been unable to locate the owner of the trawler but have interviewed the injured pump attendant.
Bharrat Bissoon, who owns the fuel boat on which the blaze started, said that he had rented the vessel to a man by the name of ‘Anand’ several months ago.
“I don’t know what happen, I am also trying to find out and Anand not answering his phone. I don’t know if he is scared or what,” Bissoon said.
Residents have been appealing for the setting up of a fire station in the community.
Just last month, Port Kaituma businessman Lenus La Cruz, set fire to his house with his wife and four children inside.
He sustained severe burns and eventually succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.