SIX of the seven Guyana Defence Force ranks of the 21 Artillery Company, who were hospitalized, after being injured on Saturday in the pyrotechnic explosion, have been released from the burns unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
According to reports, while Terrence Neils remains in the ward of the burns unit, Gordon Cornette, Isiah Gordon, Trevon Joseph, Victor Low, Atto Cort and Delroy Baird have been released from the burns unit.
It is uncertain if they have been transferred to another section of the hospital or have been sent home.
This latest update represents good news about the situation since Sunday’s sad announcement that 31-year-old Seon Rose died due to burns he sustained as a result of the incident.
Rose sustained third degree burns to 90 per cent of his body and was listed as critical when he was admitted to GPHC on Saturday. Reports are that he suffered a heart attack while being treated for his injuries.
Rose and several other ranks of the 21 Artillery Company were preparing for the fireworks display — scheduled for Saturday night — in light of Guyana’s 50th Republic Anniversary, when there was “spontaneous combustion” at approximately 13:30hrs. The pyrotechnics were aboard a truck when it exploded.
“They’re saying Seon is the one that got the most burns because he was in front,” reported Rose’s cousin, Tinnisha Perry.
Perry last saw her cousin alive on Saturday when she visited him at the hospital.
“When I saw him he was very burnt. I don’t know if he was hearing but we were calling for him and he didn’t say anything but they said that he was ok at the moment and stuff like that,” she said.
Perry said her cousin was still responsive up to Sunday morning when his wife, Tamika Hiles-Rose tried to speak with him. However, by midday on Sunday, the family got the news that Rose had passed away. Rose leaves to mourn his wife, father and three siblings.
When news of Rose’s death met his family, they were distraught. Many relatives and friends took to social media to share photographs of their memories with the deceased.
“Seon is a very good person and a very peaceful person,” Perry expressed as she spoke of her cousin that she had known all her life.
On Sunday President David Granger expressed heartfelt sympathy to Rose’s wife and other relatives, friends and the entire GDF fraternity during a visit to GPHC where he met with some of the injured.
The President also expressed his appreciation to the staff of the GPHC for their tireless efforts to save Corporal Rose’s life and for their continued treatment of the other injured ranks.
Corporal Rose enlisted in the GDF on September 7, 2008 and joined the 21 Artillery Company on November 14, 2008.
The Guyana Fire Service (GFS) and GDF are expected to assist with a Board of Inquiry (BoI) that has been ordered to determine the cause of the explosion.
