Latest update March 26th, 2026 7:55 AM
Six-Year-Old Girl Killed, Several Injured in Fiery Gas Station Blast
(Kaieteur News) – A powerful explosion ripped through the Mobil Gas Station at Regent and King Streets on Sunday night, killing a six-year-old girl and injuring several others in a scene witnesses described as “pure chaos.”
Six-year-old girl, Soraya Bourne
The deafening blast, which echoed across the capital around 7:30 p.m., shattered windows of nearby buildings, damaged vehicles, and sent debris raining down over the area. When Kaieteur News arrived on the scene, a mangled car lay amid twisted metal and shattered glass. A Toyota Fielder wagon parked nearby was also badly wrecked.
A cage filled with propane bottles was completely destroyed and the glass walls of the supermarket section was also shattered with part of the walls caving in.
An emergency response team along with crime scene investigators was also on the ground. One of the officials with the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) said that they received a call about the explosion around 19:30 hrs.
“Four persons were transported to the hospital … the three were children out of the three children that were transported, one would have succumbed to the injuries he said”.
Kaieteur News later learnt at the scene that child who died was identified as a six-year-old girl, Soraya Bourne. Eyewitnesses claimed that a total of six persons were injured. The children were reportedly in the car that suffered the brunt of the explosion and the two surviving children are reportedly in critical condition.
Among the injured was the driver of the fielder wagon that was parked nearby when the explosion occurred.
Reports are he was sitting inside when his vehicle lifted into the air before falling back down.
Scene from the incident
Pump attendants who were on duty recalled seeing the children being pitched out of the car they were in. Two of them recounted that they were in the supermarket when the explosion occurred.
“We nah see nothing, we hear and then all the glass came pitching in.
Another staff said she was close to where the explosion happened and is lucky to be alive.
She said that the car pulled up and a woman stepped out and ordered a water from her (Five Gallon).
“She then walk and go by the KFC”, she said while adding she wanted to go take out the water and wait while the woman was at KFC.
“But something tell me nah le me wait until she come back”.
A few moments later the explosion occurred at the exact location where she would have gone to retrieve the bottle of water.
She recalled that two of the children were pitched out of the car.
Public-spirited citizens rushed to the scene immediately to assist the victims and rushed them to the hospital.
Meanwhile, an immediate investigation was launched.
Crime scene ranks were seen using police sniffer dogs to help comb the area for clues.
Speaking with the press at the scene, Minister of Home Affairs, Oneige Waldron said, “Its an explosion so of course immediately you think of all the possibilities or things that can cause an explosion”.
“The sniffer dogs can detect bombs so they were here it was all part of the investigation”, she added.
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