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By Melissa JohnsonCHARLOTTE STREET, NEW AMSTERDAM – Well known businessman Ivor Persaud; his wife,cheap nfl jerseys online, Parbattie Persaud, and two grandchildren were burnt to death in an early morning fire at their home at Charlotte Street, New Amsterdam.Dead grand kids: Five-year-old Armand Persaud and eight-year-old Melissa PersaudPersaud, 69, the proprietor of the Persuades Funeral Home; his wife, Parasite, called ‘Patsy’,http://www.footlockershop.us.com/Nike-roshe-one-br/, 60, proprietress of the Astor Snackette, and their grandchildren – eight-year-old Melissa Persaud and five-year-old Armand Persaud, were trapped in the building which housed the funeral home.Eyewitnesses recalled the horror of hearing the victims screaming for help until they perished, but were unable to lend that helping hand.Some attributed the Persauds’ dilemma to the fact that the two-storey building was heavily grilled to keep out intruders.Those at the scene during the initial stage of the fire related that they were forced to wait until the walls of the building collapsed and the grill work fell before they could have entered the home.Some said that the New Amsterdam Fire Department responded in a timely manner but had enough water for only a limited time. One resident lamented: “I sure if they did come with more water they mighta been able to save the people. Mr. Persaud them were such nice people. They ain’t deserve to die like that.”Both of the children lived with their parents, Sherry and Anil Persaud, next door.The blaze was discovered just after 02:00 hours on Saturday. The cause is still unknown. Relatives said that the home was re-wired some time last year.Mrs. Sherry Persaud tried her best to be composed as she recalled some of the most treasured memories of her only two children — Melissa and Armand. “They were very close to their grandparents. On Friday, Melissa went to do her nails. They were done in red. She came to me all excited and said,wholesale jerseys, ‘Mommy,Cheap NFL Jerseys Supply, I got my nails done.’ I said to her, ‘When I was your age, I couldn’t get my nails done.’ She said, ‘I going to show grandma.’ He (Armand) picked up his game and they went.”The next time, which was the last time she saw her only two children alive, was at about 20:30 hours when she went over to the grandparents’ home. “I went over to give the children their worm medicine. They used to have so much fun there. They liked to dance and model and play game and so. They don’t sleep in their night clothes. They used to wear their grandfather’s big T-shirts to sleep in. The grandparents were really good to them. The house had three bedrooms, and all four of them used to sleep in the one room. This room was near to the front door, not far.”Dead: Parbattie PersaudSo near, and yet so far. She could not say what prevented them from getting out of the burning building. “They say when they found them all four of them were huddled together. The two of them were trying to shield the two babies.”“We couldn’t get in. We tried, my husband tried!”A relative who preferred not to be named recalled hearing voices shouting. “When me rush out of we house, me see the fire. That was about a quarter to two (01:45 hours). We phone deh out but we call the GDF and they phone the fire station and they come right away.”The relative added that other family members, neighbours, passersby and friends rushed to assist the victims. “Them men did trying to break down the door and so, but them couldn’t. To me, was like Mr. Persaud did trying to save the children and he wife, but like the fumes was too much and he collapse. Later on, when we see them bodies, is like the two big people did hug up the children, trying to protect them.”Narda Persaud, the dead couple’s only daughter, said that the business was in their family for generations. The material loss would run into million of dollars.She said she resided very close to her parents until a year ago, when she moved to the West Coast of Berbice. The distance did not affect them; they still maintained a close relationship. On Friday, she left them, against their wishes, at about 22:30 hours. “Everything was okay. They wanted me to sleep over. When my husband called, they told him I sleeping over. But I had to go home. I live till at Number Four Village.”Narda described her parents as the best. “They were very kind. He was very kind-hearted to anybody; even a beggar he would give his last cent to.”Mrs. Parbattie Persaud would have celebrated her 61st birth anniversary on January 30. “She wanted to have a religious function. She wanted to cross the (Berbice River) Bridge for her birthday. A day she was to cross on it but it was closed, so she had to use the boat; so all she wanted was to cross on the bridge for the birthday.”Melissa was a grade three student at the St. Therese’s Primary School in New Amsterdam, while her brother Armand was a level two student of the St. Mary’s Nursery School.”Armand’s teacher, Sheryl Ann Gray, recalled that on Friday the class was working on the topic “The Fisherman.” Armand, like the other students,http://www.footlockershop.us.com/Kalalau/, was required to draw a suitable picture. This he did in his own way.“He drew the fisherman off the boat, so I asked him if the fisherman was standing in the air and he laughed and changed it. He was a very bright boy. Before he left classes every day he would always ensure everything is packed away.”Mr. Ivor Persaud was described as a people’s person, one who gave unselfishly, “He does treat he workers good, real good. Them two children was he pet, they worship them grandchildren. Them children always with them. He and he wife were good people. They had plenty, about five or six, poodles; them, too, burn up.”One of the employees, Lydia Amsterdam, had been working at the Persaud’s Funeral Home for the past three years. Fighting back the tears, she told of her last conversation with Mr. Ivor Persaud.“I work in the mortuary section. They were very nice people and the children were so nice. On Friday we talked. I couldn’t imagine that I would never see he again – that was the last time we talk.”The New Amsterdam Department of the Guyana Fire Service got plaudits for its ability to save neighbouring homes, thus containing the blaze to only the Persauds’ home, despite some setbacks with the water supply.Senior Superintendent of Division ‘B’ of the Guyana Police Force, Wreford Johnson, explained that when he arrived on the scene, the fire was on the northwestern section of the building. The bodies were eventually found at the southwestern end.A source from the Guyana Fire Service said that the first call was received at 02:02 hours, and the team responded immediately with two tenders, one of which was using the original tank’s supply of water and the other appliance used an open source – the Republic Road Canal about 700 metres away.As a result of the grill work, accessing the inside of the building posed a difficulty. “The persons who made the call took a very long time to make the call to the Fire Department. We had sufficient water supply and our personnel are well trained, so we were able to contain the fire very fast and save the other buildings.”For this year, there have been nine fire calls in the town of New Amsterdam itself, but this was the only building burnt, and these were the only lives lost.The late Ivor Persaud and his wife are survived by their son, Anil, his wife, Sherry,http://www.footlockershop.us.com/Nike-roshe-one-bt/, and their daughter, Narda, her husband, and their only child. |
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