SEVENTY–six–year-old father of seven, Sew Susankar, perished in an early morning fire of unknown origin, yesterday, at his home at Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara.

Neighbours indicated that the area had a power outage, and as soon as power was restored, a loud explosion was heard at Susankar’s residence, after which smoke started emanating from the building.

Firefighters on scene were trying to rescue the man from the burning building through the unlocked grill door at the back, but their efforts were unsuccessful. He was found still alive in the bathroom of the house, but succumbed to his injuries in the tray of the police vehicle en route to the Georgetown Public Hospital, and was pronounced dead on arrival at that medical institution.

His son, Sonny Susankar, praised the Guyana Fire Service for responding to the fire in a very timely manner, but he said the fire continued to spread regardless; and when the Fire Service left the scene, pockets of fire could still be seen in the building.

Sonny Susankar disclosed that he and his father had earlier had dinner, after which he left to go out; but when he returned home approximately forty-five minutes later, he saw the flames in the house and rushed upstairs trying to rescue his father. But as he opened the door, he had to retreat to safety from the fervent heat and naked flames within the building. He said the door was unlocked although it was bolted, and had his father unbolted the door, he would not have perished in

the fire.

Sew Seusankar’s sister, Betty Narine, said her brother travelled frequently to the United States, and that only last February someone had broken into his house and had stolen all his belongings. After he had heard about the incident, Sew Susankar returned to Guyana to take care of his house.

“I don’t know what really happen, but I am shocked and surprised at this incident. My brother was always good; I don’t know how this happened. He always in a fire incident. The last time he was in a fire incident was back in 2002 when the Twin Tower in New York was blown down. He was in a critical condition then,” she disclosed.

(By Asif Hakim)