Granny (81) dies in blaze
Woman used candles in Phoenix flat, electricity supply cut off
USING a garden hosepipe, a Phoenix man tried to extinguish the fire at his grandmother’s home in Greenbury on Thursday night, but in vain.
Emergency services later found 81-year-old Rampire Kissoon’s body on her bed.
The mother of seven and grandmother of eight was burnt beyond recognition.
The fire is believed to have started after a candle fell on the floor.
Kissoon, a widow, did not have electricity for several years, after her account went into arrears. She lived off her monthly pension and was unable to have the lights reconnected.
Kissoon’s family said they intended to place her in a home for the aged.
Her daughter-in-law, Lalitha, who lived a block away, said she went to Kissoon’s home to check on her that evening.
“My mother-in-law walked with the aid of a walker. She used a candle at night.
“I went to her home at 6pm to give her something to eat and to clean up. When she was done, I put her to bed and
put out the candle. I returned to the flat after 7pm to check on her again and she was still asleep.”
Lalitha said at about 8.30pm, a neighbour knocked on her door and yelled for her and her husband.
“He told us my mother-in-law’s flat was on fire. My husband was not well and stayed behind, so my son (Ashvay) and I ran to her flat. We saw the flames and he connected the hosepipe that he carried from our home to a neighbour’s tap.”
Lalitha said she and Ashvay, 32, managed to kick open the front door of Kissoon’s first-floor flat.
“Ashvay put out some of the flames, but we battled to breathe because the smoke was thick.”
In the interim, neighbours broke the flat windows and used buckets of water to put out the flames.
“As we walked through the flat, I caught a glimpse of my mother-in-law. Her body was in flames. We had no choice but to leave because the fire was raging.”
Lalitha said they used another hosepipe to put out the fire.
She said emergency services arrived and retrieved Kissoon’s body.
“She was burnt beyond recognition and her bones were visible. My son and I are traumatised. We question ourselves if we did enough to save her.”
The former factory worker’s body was identified using her dental records.
Her funeral was held on Sunday at the Verulam Crematorium and the casket was sealed.
Lalitha believed that after she visited for the second time, Kissoon could have lit a candle to go to the bathroom or the kitchen.
“It could have fallen and that’s probably how the room caught alight.”