.jpg)
When the Guyana Chronicle revisited the fire scene on Saturday, several family members and workers of the Gangadeens were present, and appeared in terrible shock at the tragic loss that has visited the family.
Speaking with a young man who claimed to have been home when the fire started on Friday afternoon, the Guyana Chronicle learnt that the youngster was downstairs playing with his two cousins, aged 8 and 2, when he heard a loud noise sounding thrice from the upper flat of the home.
He said he rushed upstairs because he thought someone was in the house, but soon realized that fire was evident in the front and middle rooms of the house.
He said that based on what he had seen; the fire may have started in the front room, since the wall of that room was extensively damaged.
The lad said he peered into the middle room and realized that the fire was concentrated at an area with some clothing.
He then rushed downstairs and took his two cousins out of the home, before returning into the building to try to put out the blaze; but the smoke and heat overwhelmed him, and he exited the building calling for the help of workmen who were in another building on the same premises.
He said the workmen tried to battle the blaze, but were unable to do so because the ceiling of the building started to cave in, so they grabbed a few items and left the building.
The workmen referred to, work with the Gangadeens in a furniture factory which the family operates in the same compound with the house. That factory usually supplied two major home furnishing stores with household furniture.
The young man said no adult was at home when the fire started, and when he described to the adults what he had heard when he went downstairs, he was told that the noise could have resulted from a wire sparking and causing fire to ignite.
Asked if any electrical appliance had been in use or had been left on unattended in the rooms, the young man said that he could not say.
The Gangadeens became popular in 2010 when a male relative was accused and charged for the murder of his wife, who had mysteriously ended up under the wheel of a canter truck he had been driving.
Just under a month ago, the man was freed of the charges after the Director of Public Prosecutions had determined that there was not sufficient evidence to charge the man with murder.
Friday’s fire is said to have caused the family millions in damage to both the home and business place.
As word of the fire spread, rumours surfaced that someone had been trapped in the building and had been burnt to death. However that assertion proved false.
The many persons who had gathered to watch the fire came up with various theories as to how the fire was started. Some were of the view that a supernatural being had started the fire. They likened the fire to the passing of 30-year-old Bridgette Gangandeen whose body was discovered in front of the Vigilance Police Station on May 02, 2010.
The death of the woman saw the East Coast of Demerara, and by extension the nation, paying close attention to the investigations that unfolded. The death also saw the two families — those of the man and his wife, who lived just a few yards apart – developing issues with each other.
