Two years after Shivnanand Persaud’s wife was killed, and his son injured when their house at Number 71 Village collapsed, the man’s one-bedroom house was destroyed by fire yesterday, and his hospitalized with burns.
Persaud, a security guard at the Skeldon Estate, said the fire of unknown origin started around 2.20 pm. He said he was at work when he received a call about the fire and by the time he arrived at the scene the building was already engulfed.
He was unable to save anything, “except for the uniform I had on.” The fire tender arrived on the scene shortly after and firefighters were able to contain the blaze.
He said his son, 20-year-old Rajkumar Persaud was in the toilet in the yard about three ft away from the house when he was burnt on his hands and face as he attempted to escape. He was rushed to the Skeldon Hospital where he was admitted. Persaud was told that his son’s condition is not serious.
He said Rajkumar suffered a spinal injury when their house collapsed on November 29, 2005, and was paralyzed. He has since undergone physical therapy; and has started to walk a little.
Rajkumar had been under the house with his mother, Premwattie Persaud, 45, around 8.15 pm on that fateful day, when during a heavy storm the house collapsed on them.
The woman appeared to have died instantly while Rajkumar was unable to move. Persaud said he had just gone upstairs when the house fell, and somehow escaped unscathed.
He said he and Rajkumar then moved in with another son who lives in the same yard. He said he waited one year before deciding to rebuild, only to be struck by another disaster. (Shabna Ullah)
