FOUR persons have been held after the villages of Zorg-En-Vlugt and La Union, Essequibo Coast became engulfed in dense smoke, forcing residents to vacate their homes on Tuesday.

According to one resident, Lall (only name given), his wife has become ill after she inhaled the smoke. Children were seen wearing sun glasses to protect their eyes, while adults were busy taking their birds to safety.

The Guyana Chronicle was informed that a pregnant mother along with her child had to be rushed to the Suddie Public Hospital for medical attention.

“It’s sheer suffocation we going through, it’s horrible, we can’t breathe, the people lit their farmlands and left it to light and it in turn catch afire and started huge smoke,” another resident Jai Singh related.

The heavy smoke started after a farmer lit his farmland aback of the villages. The fire quickly spread to almost 20 acres of land, resulting in massive smoke.

The four persons held are assisting the police with their investigations.