A seven-year-old girl of Canefield, Canje perished in a blaze that destroyed her home on Wednesday night and her mother who made a desperate bid to save her suffered severe burns to her left hand.

Chandini Jaggai also known as “Shania” was burnt in the fire which started around 10:30 pm as her parents watched helplessly. The child’s mother Doodwattie Seepersaud, 28, called “Sherry,” attempted to rescue her from the burning building with her husband close behind.

But by the time they got back upstairs the fire, which

started in the kitchen in the lower flat, had already spread and as Seepersaud opened the door her hand was burnt. Her husband Bharrat Jaggai, 33, had to restrain her from entering the house for the child or her injuries could have been more severe.

She said neighbours telephoned for the New Amsterdam fire tender which arrived some half an hour later. The building was destroyed within ten minutes.

The woman’s relatives with whom she is staying said the firefighters took a while to access water before completely putting out the blaze and preventing the fire from spreading to other buildings.

Meanwhile residents had formed a bucket brigade but that was definitely no match for the inferno. Seepersaud even joined in this effort but she went a bit too close as she threw water from a pail and got her forehead burnt as well.

According to Seepersaud they were all asleep when they heard something knocking in the kitchen. She said her husband, who at first thought it was thieves, went down to check. He saw the fire and told her to grab the children and get out of the house fast.

The woman said she picked up her three-year-old daughter Sushma called “Shian” and then woke the seven-year-old and told her to follow her. Chandini was wide awake and the mother thought the child was right behind her. But when she got outside of the house the child was nowhere around.

Instinctively the mother screamed out her child’s name and ran back into the house to rescue her. But it was too late.

A neighbour said she was watching television about 10:30 pm when she heard loud banging coming from the neighbours’ house as though they were pelting items around. She said, “I did not look out because I thought it was a fight but then about 15 minutes later I heard my neighbours crying and shouting “Shania, Shania