The quiet West Coast Demerara village of Stewartville was plunged into a state of shock and mourning yesterday afternoon when fire destroyed a house and an elderly man was burned to death. Dead is Gul Mohamed, 81, of 54 Stewartville Housing Scheme.

His upper body was burnt beyond recognition, while the lower body was charred.

After the flames were doused by the Guyana Fire Service, his remains were taken away by a hearse.

Relatives said that the elderly man who suffered a fall and had pains in his legs was bedridden and was hypertensive.

His grieving son, Rasheed Mohamed, told the Guyana Chronicle that the fire has left two families homeless.

He was forced to save his own life when the vinolay beneath his feet began burning and part of the floor caved in as he tried to save his father.

Rasheed said it was about 2:30 pm, and he was in the lower flat of the two-storeyed wooden building when he was alerted to a fire which started in one of the three bedrooms in the upper flat.

He rushed upstairs and lifted his father from the bed in a bedroom and then the floor began to fall in as the fire raged.

He stumbled and his father slipped from him and he was all but overcome by the flames and smoke as he ran out of the building.

Rasheed Mohamed said, “It was the most difficult day in my life as I stood helplessly outside while my dad was screaming loudly for help; but I could do nothing to save him.”

His feet, back and hands were swollen from the burns as he sat weeping in the yard.

Rasheed Mohamed was at a neighbour’s house yesterday as he recounted the day’s event which cost him the life of his father.

The 33-year-old man explained that he occupied the upper flat of the building with his wife and three children, while the lower flat was occupied by his brother, his wife and two children.

They will all be staying with relatives until they find another home.

Mohamed, a goldsmith, could not say how the fire started. There was a  power outage in the area at the time fire broke out, and there was no cooking upstairs.