(Roxanne Clarke and Marcelle Thomas)
An octogenarian burned to death in her sleep during a fire which gutted her bedroom at her two-storey Diamond, East Bank Demerara home last night.
Dead is Cynthia Persaud, 82, called ‘Aunty Cynthie’of Lot 94 Little Diamond Housing Scheme.
According to reports, a lit kerosene lamp might have fallen on the woman’s mattress and triggered the blaze. Up to 10 pm, the woman’s charred body was still at the residence.
John Morgan, Persaud’s brother-in-law who lives about two houses away, said the fire started around 7 pm. The man said he was at home when he was awakened by screams from the neighbours. “Meh hear people screaming Auntie Cynthie house on fire. I started to scream and run outside to see wha happening,” the man said.
According to Morgan, when he arrived at the scene neighbours had formed a bucket brigade and they tried to put out the vicious flames so they could rescue the woman and save her home.
The man added that there was no electricity or potable water at Persaud’s residence, so they rushed to a neighbour where they hawked water to put out the blaze. “We had to beg de neighbours for water. She ain’t had no utensil or so. De drain ain’t had no water either. So we had to run fuh get de water fuh out de fire,” he said.
This newspaper was told that the residents took about 25 minutes to extinguish the blaze and by that time the woman had already succumbed. “We rushed in de house after we out de fire… we break down de door but de lady de done dead,” one man said.
According to the villagers, the woman lived alone and had a small stall at her bottom flat where she vended snacks to make a living.
When Stabroek News visited the scene a large gathering was still at the woman’s residence awaiting the arrival of the funeral service to remove the body. Some of the neighbours were upset that the fire service arrived on the scene about hours after the fire and felt the woman might have been saved if fire fighters had arrived earlier.
Persaud was described by many of the residents as a friendly and pleasant person. Neighbour Joan Persaud said she had been acquainted with the woman for over 45 years. She said Persaud found pleasure in sharing sweets to the children of the community. “She ain’t [had] children so she used to give sweets to the children.
She was a very nice person. Me and she had a really good relationship,” she said sorrowfully.
