Millions of dollars in fishing equipment and cash went up in flames at the Goed Fortuin koker, West Bank Demerara (WBD) on Wednesday night when a man doused his shack with gasoline and then lit it afire after discovering that his cash and clothing were missing from his home.
Reports are that about 22:40h, the suspect, a 38-year-old fisherman, who lived in a wooden shack on the eastern side of the koker, returned home and noticed that some of his clothing, along with $40,000 had been stolen.
Inews told that this led to the man becoming furious and caused him to throw gasoline inside his home as well on the boat landing he utilised and lit the structures afire. The fire quickly spread and burnt the man to the right side of his leg.
Meanwhile, the flames engulfed the premises and destroyed five boathouses that were in close proximity.
Forty-year-old fisherman Kawall Ramnarine, called “Baby”, of Lot 20562 La Parfaite Harmonie, WBD, owned one of the boathouses that went up in flames. Inside his boathouse, he said there was $500,000, one HP 40 Yamaha outboard engine, along with other articles.
Sooknanan Takchand, a 57-year-old fisherman of Lot 1-2-3 Goed Fortuin, WBD, who owned another boathouse that was completely burnt, valued his structure at $500,000. He also lost one HP 48 Yamaha outboard engine worth $ 1,100,000 and fishing equipment valued at $ 3,000,000.
Another fisherman, 32-year-old Raffick Khalil, lost fishing equipment worth $2,000,000 along with his boathouse that was valued at $500,000.
Guyana Times understands that the owners of the two other boathouses along with items that had been stored inside of them when the fire took place are yet to be identified.
Although a fire truck from the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) responded promptly to the scene and managed to extinguish the blaze, nothing was saved or salvaged from the boathouses.
At the time of the fire, the suspect was taken to the West Demerara Regional Hospital, where he was treated for burns to his feet. He was subsequently taken into custody.
