900 attend funeral for Trini doctor

A TRINIDADIAN doctor, his wife and son who perished in a fire at their house in Corpus Christi, South Texas on October 19, were  buried last Friday after a funeral service attended by more than 900 mourners. Dr Peter Serrao, 47, his wife Heidi, 45, and Oliver, 11, were buried at Seaside Memorial Park in Texas, after the funeral service at Corpus Christi Cathedral.

The couple’s ten-year-old daughter, Alexis, escaped from an upstairs window during the fire. Their other daughter Ashley, who was away at college in California, attended Friday’s service. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Alexis was unable to attend the service because she remained hospitalised in a stable condition at Driscoll Children’s Hospital. After the service, waves of people left the church to make their way to Seaside Memorial Park on Ocean Drive, where family and friends embraced and gently stroked the caskets before leaving. Those attending Friday’s services included doctors and nurses who worked with Dr Peter Serrao as well as his patients.

Around 4 am last Tuesday, fire of unknown origin swept through the Serrao family home at Ocean Drive. Eyewitnesses reported that a woman and a girl jumped through a window on the top floor in their attempt to escape the fire. The woman, later identified as Heidi Serrao, was rushed to hospital where she died some time later. Heidi died from massive head injuries. The girl, Alexis, survived the fall and remains warded in a stable condition. She suffered a collapsed lung. Firemen took hours to extinguish the fire. After the fire was put out, firefighters found the charred remains of Dr Serrao and his son Oliver near the window of the upstairs bedroom. They died from smoke inhalation. Firemen checked the ruins but have not been able to determine the cause of the fire. Newsday learnt that Dr Karl Serrao, Peter Serrao’s younger brother, had emergency custodial care of Alexis, but no one could say for sure who would care for her in the future.