10 persons now homeless after Mahaica fire that claimed lives of two girls

The Guyana Fire Service is still investigating the cause of a fire that resulted in the deaths of two children and which left 10 people homeless at Lot 60-61 Belmont, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara on Wednesday.

The Fire Service identified the two victims as nine-year-old Anamika Hardat, who was suffering from a disability that made it difficult to exit the house; the other child was her sister, three-year-old Shameena Hardat.

The Fire Service said it received a call at 13:07 hrs about the fire which involved a two-storey wooden and concrete building owned by Ayube Mohamed Khan and occupied by 79-year-old Zaman Khan and his family of eleven.

“The children were left at home without adult supervision,” the Fire Service noted, adding that two jets working from an open water source were used to extinguish the fire.

“The Guyana Fire Service is saddened over the loss of these two young lives and continues to advise citizens to exercise caution and follow safety measures to avoid home fires,” the release noted.

The mother of the children told reporters at the scene that she left the house to visit the Cove and John Police Station to collect child support and then later traveled to the capital city to purchase school supplies.

She has two other children who were at school at the time.