The two persons who perished Thursday morning in a fire at the Vizion Hotel and Apartments buildings, located on 136 Fifth Street in Alberttown, Georgetown, have been identified as two Venezuelan nationals.
According to officials, 25-year-old Maria Lina Texidor Alonso and 44-year-old Maria Alejandra Patiño Benjamin were burnt to death because they were trapped in the apartment when the fire started.
HGP TV can now confirm that there was not a third fatality. The third person, thought to have died, escaped from the building.
There are two buildings in the yard. It is an apartment on the second floor of the building, at the back of the yard, that caught fire. The buildings mainly house migrants.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Fire Service were alerted of the fire at 08:45 hours and responded immediately, however upon arrival, firefighters found the first floor of the two-story building already engulfed in flames, Fire Chief Kalamadeen Edoo told reporters.
Being that the apartment was secured with metal grills, this made it difficult for the firemen to gain entry into the building immediately. Screams from the women, trapped in the building could have been heard, but there was nothing anyone could do to help them, according to residents.
And when the firemen gained entry — after breaking the grill and wooden doors, which took some time — the bodies were discovered: one a bed and the other at the back of the building, Edoo said.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
