Latest update January 1st, 2025 1:00 AM
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Home alone pensioner perishes in early morning fire
A 70 year old woman met a fiery death early yesterday morning after she was trapped in her burning house at Hope West, Enmore, East Coast Demerara.
The unrecognizable remains of Bagmattie John called “Baby” or Banmattie Basdeo, were discovered among the debris, several minutes after fire fighters put out the blaze but not before it had completely destroyed the house
The fire, which is believed to have been caused by a kerosene lamp, started at about 02:30 hours.
It is believed that John, a diabetic, who lives alone, was asleep when the fire engulfed her single flat wooden house.
Neighbours are convinced that the woman was unable to escape in time because she was stricken with a stroke and had an injured toe which stemmed from her diabetes.
The woman’s daughter, Lilawattie John, who lives several houses away, told this newspaper that she would usually visit her mother daily to feed her and put her to bed, and Saturday night was no exception.
“She nah want go ah nobody house, she say she want stay at she own place,” Lilawattie explained.
She said she left her mother’s house around 19:30 hours after putting her to bed.
Around 02:00 hours yesterday, word was relayed to her that her mother’s house was on fire.
Lilawattie’s heart skipped several beats since she knew that her mother was not too well and would be in grave danger as she was hardly moving around freely on her own within the past week.
She rushed over to her mother’s house and when she did not see her mother, her worst fears were confirmed.
“De house de done burn when me come…and me nah see she….me lef she in deh,”
Lilawattie could not say for sure what caused the fire.
All that is left of the Hope West Enmore house.
Bagmattie John called ‘Baby’
“She does always light she lamp; fuh years now she doing it,” the woman told Kaieteur News.
A neighbour to the west of John’s house recalled that her husband was asleep in the front of her house when he felt an intense heat.
He got up and saw a bright light to the east.
When he looked outside, he saw fire in the front room of John’s house; the same room that the elderly woman slept in every night.
An alarm was raised and several neighbours came out; but they could do nothing to save the house or the pensioner, who they knew was trapped inside.
“We ain’t hear no screaming, was just big fire,” the neighbour said.
The most villagers could have done was to assist in preventing the fire from spreading to nearby buildings.
Firefighters are carrying out investigations to ascertain the cause of the fire while police investigators are awaiting the results of a post mortem examination on the elderly woman’s remains.
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