Fire at Brahma Kumaris centre suspected to be electrical

The fire which gutted the Raja Yoga Centre at Kingston, Georgetown late last month is suspected to have been electrical in origin, according to Fire Chief Marlon Gentle.

When contacted for an update yesterday, Gentle told Stabroek News that the investigation is almost complete.

He noted that investigators are presently waiting on a report from the Government Electrical Inspectorate so that they can wrap up the investigation. “We are just waiting on the government electrical department report because we strongly believe that it was an electrical fire,” Gentle said.

The fire had started around 4.20am on February 28 and ripped through the two-storey Lot 75 High Street, Kingston, Georgetown building within minutes.

It was suspected the fire started in a bedroom of the upper flat of the building.

Two members of the Brahma Kumaris faith, Parbattie Singh and Sister Usha, who were the only persons in the building at the time, managed to escape unhurt.

A security guard, identified only as “Narine,” was on duty in the yard.

Gentle had previously told this newspaper that the Guyana Fire Service was summoned around 4.34 am and when they arrived at the scene, the entire top flat of the building was engulfed.

Meanwhile, Singh had explained that she and

Sister Usha were meditating when the lights “cut off.”

As a result, they immediately got up and Sister Usha went into her bedroom, while Singh journeyed to the lower flat of the building.

“…We get up and when we get up to go downstairs and she (Usha) head to her bedroom, all wah we hear is something sparking like,” she had added.

Singh had further explained that she reached out for the keys to the building to give to the guard so he could unlock the doors from outside.

She said she usually has a backpack with belongings which she uses to travel to and from the centre and that was the only thing she managed to save.