PM sends condolences to relatives of woman, daughter killed in fire

The Prime Minister has offered condolences to the relatives of a 42-year-old woman and her eight-year-old daughter who died in a fire at the family’s Siparia home on Sunday morning.

The burnt bodies of Kemba Morris and her daughter Zaya were found crouched together near a back door after fire officers put out the flames at Quinam Road.

On Monday, a post by Dr Rowley on the Office of the Prime Minister's Facebook page said it was "another painful day for all of us."

"My heart goes out to a family that experiences such a tragedy. We will continue to improve our ability and infrastructure to minimise the frequency of such occurrences. Sadly, burglar-proofing is essential in our world but it is advisable that we review their construction designs to ensure escape during emergencies," the post said.

"Given the dreadful repeat of this tragedy, now may be a good time to review all our individual situations to allow for improvements without compromising the security aspects of the locked bars."

Morris was the mother of three and Zaya was a student of St Brigid's Girls' RC primary school.

The fire broke out around 5 am.

While other relatives including Morris' two other children and one of her (Morris) sisters, managed to get out of the burning house, the mother and daughter remained trapped inside.

On Monday afternoon, Education Minister Nyan Gadsby-Dolly as well as minister in that ministry Lisa Morris-Julian also offered condolences "on the death of Zaya Morris."

A post offering condolences from both ministers was uploaded to the ministry's Facebook page. The post said Zaya was a standard one student who was loved by her teachers and classmates.

It added, "The schools supervisor and officers of the Student Support Services Division are providing the necessary interventions to her bereaved family as well as to teachers and students."