With tears in her eyes, ailing kidney patient Sumintra Mungroo yesterday said she is now hoping for a Christmas miracle after her Fyzabad home was destroyed in a suspected arson attack. Standing in front the smoking embers of her home at Saltmine Trace, Mungroo appealed for help on behalf of her family of five as they tried to make sense of their loss.
She said her three sons were looking forward to hanging up Christmas lights yesterday, but they were instead forced to spend their day rummaging through the remains of their two-storey wooden and concrete home. Her husband Toolsie Ramjit, 52, said there will be no Christmas for the family this year. “Everything we had is gone. How could we have a Christmas now? We have to watch everything we work hard to build, to make in life, go up in flames,” he said, shaking his head.
Toolsie said they are not sure how the fire occurred, but they suspect someone may have set their house on fire. Ramjit said around 4.15 am he was cooking in the kitchen when he heard a loud explosion and the sound of breaking glass on the ground floor of their home. “I run halfway down the steps and I watch. I see a hole in the window and I see the fire spreading on the wall and all over,” he said.
“I run back upstairs and wake up my wife and sons. They was sleeping at the time. I run to the yard and turn on the hose to wet the house, but water lock off and the cord for the pump was burnt.” Mungroo said her sons Anand Mungroo, 28, Shiva and Satish Ramjit, 25 and 15 respectively, woke her up, grabbed her granddaughter Anjali and ran outside.
The family said they cannot estimate their losses. Mungroo said they were still paying for three appliances they bought on hire purchase in August. She also said her son lost $12,000 which he was saving at home as a downpayment for a car he planned to buy to surprise her on Christmas Day.
Yesterday, representatives from the Siparia Regional Corporation visited the family and promised to provide a mattress and application forms for social welfare.
Mungroo can be reached at 296-3593 or 315-4073.