Hero hurt saving parents and brother from fire

AFTER hearing the heart wrenching screams of his parents and crippled brother, who were trapped in their burning house in Gasparillo yesterday, a 45-year-old man ripped a burglar-proofed door from its hinges and ran into the flames. Chabilal Boodram’s heroic actions saved their lives but he received first degree burns about his body.  Boodram, 45, a supervisor at a methanol plant, and his mentally and physically challenged brother,  Narine are in serious condition in the Intensive Care Unit of the San Fernando General Hospital. His father, Boysie, 68, is also warded after  sustaining first degree burns to his hands. Miraculously his mother, Sumintra, 68, escaped with minor injuries.

The cause of the early morning fire  has not yet been determined but investigators believe it was caused by an electrical problem. Damage to the house has been estimated at more than $300,000. Also lost in the blaze was $10,000 in cash that the family planned to use to add another room to the house, located at Lightbourne Road, Bonne Aventure. Surrounded by relatives at her son’s home yesterday, a visibly shaken Sumintra recalled that she was in her bedroom at around 1 am, when she heard a crackling sound coming from the  living room. “When I gone in the living room I see the ceiling on fire and smoke,” she said.

She said she called out to Narine to get out of the house but was unable to locate her husband, Boysie, who occupied a separate bedroom. Unable to find the key to the burglar proofed gate, Sumintra, a mother of ten, said she held onto the iron bars and started screaming for help. “My son crawl out to the door of his room and he tell me: “Ma I go die. I doh want to die like this. I could not lift him, so I kept bawling for help.” On hearing his mother’s screams, another son, Mohanlal, who lives next door together with a nephew, Prem, 21, ran up the stairs to the burning house and attempted to open the gate. Chabilal came shortly after and started pounding on the burglar proofed gate. “His hands were burning on iron bars but he still kept pulling and tugging it until he burst open the lock. He tell me to get out now,” Sumintra recalled.

By this time,  the house was completely engulfed in flames. “He run in and lift up Narine but part of the ceiling fall on top of him and he dropped him. Chabilal caught on fire and ran out of the house screaming and they throw water on him,” she sobbed. Sumintra said her other son, Mohanlal, ran back into the house and saved Narine.  In the commotion, Sumintra said, she did not see when her husband ran out of the house.