Fire destroys house in Claxton Bay

NO injuries were reported in a fire that completely destroyed a house in Macaulay, Claxton Bay, over the weekend.

The fire occurred at Hibiscus Drive around 2.30 am on December 28 and no one was home at the time. The owner's car was also destroyed.

The owner, Vicky Baptiste, 45, lived with his two minor children, while his two other children live with other relatives.

He had left home the night before and was alerted about the fire by phone.

When he arrived, the three-bedroom wooden house and its contents were already destroyed.

Speaking to Newsday, a close female relative said the family lost everything in the blaze.

“It started in the living room. I cannot say what caused it. I do not know if it was arson or an electrical issue. He had a pottery business, and that is gone too. All his appliances, furniture, and the children’s documents were destroyed,” she said.

St Margaret’s police are investigating.

Although there were no injuries or fatalities, it was the latest tragedy in the community.

Last month, on November 28 around 9 pm, scrap-iron worker Basdeo “Ricky” Lallan, 49, and his girlfriend Whitney Narine, 21, were gunned down in their two-bedroom wooden house.

They lived a short distance away on Teak Drive.

The couple’s seven-month-old son and another minor relative escaped death when the killer pointed a gun at them, but the gun jammed.

The killer fled through a nearby track and drove away in a station wagon parked on the shoulder of the southbound lane of the Solomon Hochoy Highway.