Brothers perish in Westmoreland fire
Published:Tuesday | April 9, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Western Bureau:
Tragedy struck in the district of Cottage in Little London, Westmoreland, early Sunday night when two little boys - brothers Leymond and Odena Bremmer - perished in a fire which completely gutted the one-bedroom wooden house in which they lived.
The fire, which claimed the lives of five-year-old Leymond and his two-year-old brother, Odena, reportedly started shortly after 9:30 p.m. while the boys' mother, with whom they lived, was away using a communal bathroom located close to their home.
"My sister (the children's mother) went to use the bathroom outside the house, and I went down the lane to get something from my father," said the boys' uncle, Javale Pringle, who also lived at the house. "By the time I reached where I was going, I was told that the house was on fire."
According to Pringle, when he rushed back to the house, it was engulfed in flames.
"When I rushed back there, the house was completely on fire," said Pringle. "I saw my sister crying on the ground … it was too late to do anything."
The destroyed one-bedroom house was home to five persons - two adults, one teenager, and the two little boys.
"We are just heart-broken about this," a neighbour told The Gleaner. "The house went up in flames very quickly and nothing was saved."
Firefighters too late
One unit from the Savanna-la-Mar Fire Department responded to the blaze, but by the time the firefighters arrived at the scene, it was already too late for the little boys as the wooden structure was already destroyed. The charred remains of the brothers were later found among the burnt-out rubble.
The boys' mother, 28-year-old Taniesha Hart, who reportedly made a bold but unsuccessful attempt to rescue the boys, had to be rushed to the Savanna-la-Mar hospital, where she was treated for smoke inhalation and shock.
When quizzed as to the possible cause of the fire, Pringle told The Gleaner that they did not have electricity at the house, and as a consequence, the family was using two candles to provide lighting.
"It looks like the candle turned over and catch the house on fire … we never had electricity there," a sobbing Pringle said. "It is just so sad."
Investigations are being carried out by the Westmoreland police to determine if negligence played any part in the tragic incident.