TWENTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD Orin Edwards of Cooklit Landing, Barama River, North West District, was severely burnt on his feet in a freak accident in the Moruca Creek last Tuesday.

The incident occurred when gasoline fell on a lighted stove and erupted into a huge blaze in the fishing boat Orin and other persons were in at the time.

Now an in-patient at the Charity Hospital, Orin said he was cooking on the stove at the back of the boat when the captain called on him to help throw over some gasoline from a container into the engine tank when the accident occurred.

Orin said he was assisting in this task when the boat suddenly hit a tree at the edge of the creek, and the container fell to the ground and spilled the gasoline on the lighted stove.
He said that in the ensuing sudden blaze, his feet caught afire as the flames tried to engulf him, but he quickly plunged overboard and escaped a fiery death.

The unmarried fisherman said he was pulled from the water by other workers, but had to endure severe pain in the journey from Moruca Creek to Charity because he was without medication.

He said he had to find his way to the hospital all by himself, because the owner of the boat, who lives at Cotton Field, Essequibo Coast, left without offering him any assistance, medically or financially.

(Rajendra Prabhulall in Essequibo)