In the midst of excitement over Divali, a seven-year-old girl perished in a fire at her relatives’ home in Marabella yesterday.
The charred remains of Anisha Mohipath, a Standard One pupil of Carapichaima RC School, were found in the back area of the wooden house after the fire fighters extinguished the blaze.
Investigators said fire spread from an adjacent abandoned house to the house where Mohipath and her relatives, including a two-year-old baby, were asleep.
Residents suspect a man from the area may have set fire to the abandoned house which was mere feet away from Mohipath’s relatives’ home.
Mohipath, her brother Brandon, ten, and Alisha, 12, left their Freeport home to spend the weekend at the home of their sister Jizell Lochan at East Bayshore. Lochan lived there with her two-year-old son.
Lochan, a URP worker/fisherwoman who received superficial burns to her right shoulder, said her siblings would usually spend weekends with her, but they were especially excited this weekend because of Divali.
They already had the fireworks and had planned to burst them last night.
Recalling the incident, she said they were asleep when her brother-in-law woke them up shortly after midnight.
“He say fire. He wrap up my two-year-old son. I came off the bed. I did not see her in the bedroom. I thought she got out. Maybe she fell asleep on the couch watching TV. I prefer if I burn or my house burn than my sister.”
Lochan said there was a lot of smoke and the place was dark. She said they could not go back into the house to search for her sister because the house was already engulfed in flames. Lochan said her stepmother Alicia Harry (Mohipath’s mother) was in a state of shock. “She don’t believe she is dead. She believe she playing with us and hiding.”
Lochan who would be staying with relatives would appreciate any assistance in rebuilding her home.
San Fernando Mayor Kazim Hosein who visited the area promised to assist the family.