Baby brothers die in fire

Two baby brothers perished in a fire which destroyed their home at Barrett Hall in Lilliput, St James, yesterday after their mother left them alone in the dwelling and went to a nearby shop.

The bodies of the boys, Aden Flowers, three, and his one-year-old brother, Christopher Flowers, were pulled from the rubble by firefighters after they extinguished the blaze.

Omar Flowers, the distraught father, told THE STAR that he was at work when he got the devastating news.

"Mi left home and left a money wid mi baby mother fi cook some food fi herself and fi mi two sons dem, and by the time mi lef, somebody call mi an tell mi seh mi house deh pon fire," Flowers said.

He told THE STAR that on occasions when the children are being left in the house they would "hitch the padlock pon di door" but they do not close it.

Reports by the Barrett Town police are that about 8:30 a.m., the mother, who was returning from the shop, saw fire coming from a section of the one-room board and zinc house. She raised an alarm and the fire department was summoned. Flowers is at a loss as to how the fire started.

"Mi nuh know how that happen! Wi nuh have no light nor wire hanging around. Nuh stove nuh light and no cylinder nuh blast up, but yet the house burn down completely, and mi two son deh dead," the landscaper said. "Mi can bare fi lose the little valuable that did inna the house, but mi can't bare fi lose fi two nice baby dem," Flowers added.

Dolfin Doman, superintendent in charge of the St James Fire Department, said it was too early to determine the cause of the blaze.

Last year, the Fire Brigade responded to 13,784 fire calls across the island. Thirty-one people died as a result of fires, 89 were injured and 1,676 lost their homes or were otherwise displaced.

Desmond McKenzie, minister of local government and rural development, described news of the Lilliput fire as distressing.

"I want to express my heartfelt sympathies to the family of the little boys who lost their lives in the unfortunate incident," McKenzie said, before reminding Jamaicans to be extremely cautious when leaving children and young ones at home.