ST. ANDREW, JAMAICA (GRIEF & ANGUISH) : Two siblings (10 & 5 year-olds) Nhyeema Barrett & Shaheem Green perish in St Andrew fire... Firefighters say they couldn’t save children

BY TANESHA MUNDLE Observer staff reporter mundlet@jamaicaobserver.com  Thursday, May 19, 2016

GRIEF and anguish gripped Heathfield Avenue, off Studio One Boulevard in St Andrew, yesterday after two siblings — ages 10 and five — perished in an early morning fire that destroyed their seven-bedroom house.

A woman, identified as the grandmother of
10-y-o Nhyeema Barrett,
who perished in the fire, is consoled by friends.

The charred remains of Nhyeema Barrett, a grade five student at Allman Town Primary, and her younger brother Shaheem Green — a student of Mulvina White Basic School — were found in one of the burnt-out rooms of the house after firefighters managed to put out the blaze that started minutes after 4:00. A total of 13 people have been left homeless.

A pregnant family member and her 12-year-old-son were injured in the blaze and were taken to Kingston Public Hospital for treatment.

Udertakers remove the remains of Nhyema
 and Shaheem from their burnt-out
house.Photos: Lionel Rookwood

The pregnant woman’s husband, Rikado Samuels, and their other son had escaped unharmed along with the siblings’ 14-year-old sister, who first made the alarm about the fire. The children were left in the care of Samuels and his wife, who had been visiting from St Elizabeth. Their mother, a security guard, was on night duty.

A distraught Samuels told the Jamaica Observer that heat prevented them from getting to the room in which Nhyheem and Shaheem slept.

He said that he and his wife were awaken by loud knocks from the oldest sibling. He said the escape was difficult as, having only arrived at the home on Tuesday, he was not familiar with it.

“All mi can seh a God mek di bigger one [sibling] find the door mouth and knock ‘cause if she neva come all a we woulda dead,” he said, as tears welled up in his eyes.

“Mi nuh have no idea how the fire start or nothing; all mi know is mi wake up under fire... Mi grieve when mi hear the little ones cry out and mi seh ‘Jesus Christ dem ago dead’, and mi run go back to see if mi coulda save dem, but mi couldn’t face the fire,” Samuel shared.

A neighbour, Orlando Cotterel, said he too tried to save the children, but the fire was too much.

“I rushed to the front but the heat was too hot, my skin felt like it was peeling off. I had to wet up my clothes and go back, but in no time dem dry back because the heat was so hot. We couldn’t go in,” he said.

District Officer Carlos Clarke told the Jamaica Observer that York Park Fire Station was alerted to the fire about 4:13 am and responded with one unit along with two additional units from Half-Way-Tree and Trench Town fire stations. more