The two young brothers; Joshua Jossiah Tyric and Antonio Dominique Alex; who perished in the Drop-in Center fire last Friday night, were laid to rest, today, following a highly emotional funeral service held at the New Covenant Ministries Church on Joseph Pollydore Street, Lodge. (Tuesday).
Among the persons paying their last respects were Minister of Social Protection Volda Lawrence, Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection Keith Scott and other officials of the ministry’s Child Care and Protection Agency.
On Friday, July 8, just after midnight, the siblings perished in the fire which occurred at the Drop-in Centre on Hadfield Street, Georgetown.
It was reported that the elder brother, six-old-year Antonio, was asleep in the dormitory when the fire started.
When the younger brother, two-year-old Joshua, who was being taken out of the building by caregivers, realised his brother was not with him, he managed to escape the grip of the caregiver and run back into the burning building. The two brothers were then trapped in the building and their charred remains were subsequently recovered.
In his most recent televised programme, “The Public Interest”, President David Granger said that he is hoping that the recently-established Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the deadly fire would provide answers to some lingering questions and give recommendations that would improve operations at the facility.
“I would like to be satisfied that the children were properly looked after, that there was no misadventure. The important thing now is to prevent a recurrence, to find out what happened and we need to ensure that an answer is provided to the question in order to prevent a recurrence”, the President told Journalists.
Granger described the incident as “quite a tragedy”. He said he expected to at least receive the preliminary report of the CoI, at earliest, next Friday, July 22, and the final report hopefully by the end of the month.
The Ministry of Social Protection’s Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) had said it took full responsibility for the tragedy.
(Photos by Carl Croker)
