A resident of Plantation Warren, East Coast Berbice, died two days after his lamp exploded in his home, while he poured kerosene oil into it.

Deodat [only name given], 59, also known as ‘Ziggy’ suffered severe burns to his body on Tuesday night (March 21) and was rushed to the New Amsterdam Hospital where he subsequently died on Thursday morning.

His 16-year-old son, Mark Deodat known as ‘Marlon,’ also suffered burns about his body and is a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

The incident occurred at approximately 19:00hrs, at Cane Harvester’s modest two flat wooden home, situated along the infamous Number 19 thoroughfare, on the Corentyne Coastline, where he lived with his wife Deveka Kalichand and two of their children.

The widow recalled being in the lower flat of the building when she heard an explosion. Rushing into the direction of the sound, she observed “a ball of fire rolling down the building’s lone stairway.”

After recognizing that it was her husband whose clothing was engulfed in flames, she screamed, alerting her neighbours, who quickly responded. Her son Mark was also screaming, as he too was on fire. The neighbours poured water on Deodat while her son plunged in a nearby water filled barrel. After the fire was extinguished, the mother of three observed that her husband of twenty five years was badly burnt. His clothing, she said was charred.

The grieving woman recalled that just before the incident, her husband had prepared a dish of Cook Up rice, and had served the meal to his family, saying it was his last. She said the memory of her husband’s burnt body will forever be etched in her memory.

The body is at the New Amsterdam Hospital Mortuary, where it awaits a post mortem examination.