A FIRE of as yet unknown origin yesterday ravaged the top flat of “The Market Place” supermarket on Fifth Street, Industry, East Coast Demerara.

The entire top flat of the supermarket was damaged, to the extent that the owner had to relocate all his groceries.
The owner of the business told the Guyana Chronicle that he could not say how the fire started, but is hoping that the investigations by the Guyana Fire Service would identify the cause.
Meanwhile, he thanked the Guyana Fire Service for responding in a timely manner, or else his entire building would have been completely gutted.
A neighbour who was on the scene told this newspaper that all she saw was smoke coming from the building and immediately she alerted the other neighbours. She related that she attempted to help the owner remove the groceries but the heat was too intense.
The woman said that in all the years, Fifth Street never had a fire and this blaze was a shock to her since the business was well secured.
Only Tuesday, 76-year-old father of seven, Sew Susankar, perished in an early-morning fire of unknown origin at his home at Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara.
Neighbours had indicated that the area had a power outage, and as soon as power was restored, a loud explosion was heard at Susankar’s residence and then smoke was seen coming from the building.

Firefighters tried 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 en route to the Georgetown Public Hospital in the tray of a police pickup, and was pronounced dead on arrival.
Written By Asif Hakim