Trinidad: Elderly man burnt to death in Princess Town fire, community blames fire service delay

Trinidad and Tobago: Fire in Indian Walk Princess Town in Trinidad leaves 67-year-old Gopaul Ramnanan dead and burnt to a crisp inside his two-room structured home on Saturday, with citizens blaming the late arrival of the fire officers responding to the scene. 

According to reports the officers from Princes Town Police Station found the elderly man burnt beyond recognition and lying in a metal bed frame after arriving  26 minutes later. 

Reportedly 30-year-old farmer Avinash Ramnath who is also the owner of the property  had allegedly taken Ramnanan in seven years prior as maintenance worker  after the passing of his elderly  father. 

But on the night of the fire the 30-year-old farmer was reportedly about 10 minutes away from the property having a meal after work in the Princes Town promenade area. 

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Upon a call from his neighbors who also tried to put out the fire, Ramnath the owner of the property arrived at the scene around 7:40 p.m. to find that there was no fire truck dealing with the massive fire due to the the fire station in Princes Town having been closed down last July because of structural and health concerns.

Ramnath found his  two room structured home already burned down with the officers arriving 26 minutes later to only find rubble with Ramnanan’s skull in the soot. 

Neighbours at the scene have described Ramnanan as a nice person who quarreled with some people sometimes due to his old age but the neighbors made time sometimes to check on him as he had no one visiting him regularly. 

Ramnanan's daughter who was also at the scene spoke fondly of her father saying he was a nice loving guy and he would not have laid back and let the fire consume him, he would have tried to fight for his life. 

Ashton Knutt, a nearby neighbor running a woodwork factory told sources that he lost approximately $250,000 in equipment and stock in the fire and had to let eight of his employees go due to the tragedy that could have probably been avoided if the Princes Town Station had been both open and functional.

He noted that the situation could have been worse if they hadn’t used their own efforts to try to damp the area and stop the fire from spreading. Highlighting that in such situation people cannot wait 45 minutes to an hour for help to arrive 

For if help had arrived earlier, the retired 67-year-old could have been saved.   

The cause of the fire or when it started is still unknown as the incident with no sign of foul play still remains under police investigations.