Berbice man jumps through window from burning house

The lone occupant of a house, which went up in flames, had to be rushed to the Skeldon Hospital on Sunday evening after he suffered minor burns along with injuries to his eyes after he jumped through a window to save himself.

Fifty-year-old Rishiram Rajpaul of Line Path, Corriverton suffered burns to his face, hand and hair. He was admitted and subsequently discharged from the hospital on Monday Morning.

He sought additional help for his eyes at the National Ophthalmology Hospital, Port Mourant.

Rajpaul, who operates a Joinery Shop, was unable to save anything from the fire.

At approximately 21:30 hrs Rajpaul was awoken to dense black smoke emanating from the ceiling in the back room.

He immediately rushed to the lower flat to get a bucket of water but by the time he returned, the smoke had spread to the entire upper flat.

His neighbour Stanley Singh, 27 recalled hearing calls for help.

Singh told the News Room that the community experienced a power outage and prior to that, there were fluctuations with the electricity.

“I hear he calling Sir! Sir! Sir! So I thought was thief so I collected my cutlass and flashlight and went outside when I reached by my gate I smell the smoke and realised it was a fire and blackout was on.

“After a few minutes I didn’t hear him, so I ran over faster while yelling out for him to cut off the main switch but wasn’t getting any response,” the neighbour told the News Room.

Singh said after he got no response, he jumped the fence and saw Rajpaul hanging from one of the front windows.

Singh said he pulled up a table, placed it close to the window, climbed on it and caught his neighbour who jumped down.

“He was semi-conscious because he inhaled of a lot of smoke so he rushed to the front to escape. I catch him and we jumped the fence,” the neighbour recalled.

Meanwhile, once again, the Guyana Fire Service came under criticisms for their late response.

This time, the Corriverton Fire Service reportedly responded some thirty minutes later even though they were only three kilometres away.

Additionally, residents alleged when they arrived, the pump was not functioning nor was there any water.