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Land of Canaan fire causes $60M in damage |
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By knews
September 9, 2008
A mysterious fire at Land of Canaan, on the East Bank of Demerara, last Sunday night has left millions
of dollars in damage, with the owners of the property not ruling out arson.
The fire, which started at around 23:00 hours, completely destroyed three huge bonds rented by CARI
AIR, which is owned by local businessman Peter Ramsaroop.
There are reports of loud explosions before the fire started, and the caretaker of the property, Jagdesh
Persaud, said he was forced to evacuate his family as the fire raged uncontrollably.
It took fire fighters almost four hours to extinguish the fire which had engulfed the three concrete bonds.
Persaud told this newspaper that he was asleep with his two daughters when he heard what sounded like
gunshots.
“I hear pow! pow! I say like thief deh around, but when I look outside I see de whole place bright,
bright, then I see de fire and I call out me two children,” Persaud related.
He said that he was surprised since the electricity to the facility had been cut off two weeks ago.
Although several persons rushed to the scene of the fire, there was nothing they could do, since the fire
was too big to even contemplate any attempt to extinguish it by bucket.
“I don’t know what caused the fire. At least it can’t start by itself,” Persaud told this newspaper.
Fortunately, the building he occupies with his family was not touched by the fire, although it is in close
proximity to the other burnt out buildings.
Speaking to this newspaper from the United States of America via telephone, businessman Peter
Ramsaroop said that from what he has learnt, something was thrown into the property.
“We did not have anything in there that would have caused a fire,” he said.
According to Ramsaroop, his company was in the process of re-tooling the facility to accommodate the
processing of farmers’ produce.
“We were working with farmers in the area and we had planned to commence operations soon. Maybe
the word got out,” Ramsaroop told this newspaper.
He said that already the facility was up to international standards, and he estimated his loss at a
whopping sixty million dollars. According to some residents, so huge was the blaze that persons living
several miles away spoke of seeing it.
Investigators are expected to revisit the scene to ascertain the origin of the fire.
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