Funeral of Penal fire victim:

THE PUNDIT officiating at the funeral service for a mother and her two daughters who burned to death in their Penal home, told mourners that the lesson to be learnt from the triple tragedy was ‘prepare for the worst.’

Pundit Dayanand Maharaj was speaking at the funeral service for Sheila Bridgelal and her daughters Amreka and Maya, which was held in front of the “death house” at Mohess Road. He told the large crowd of mourners that families ought to prepare an “escape plan” beforehand to deal with emergencies.

“Given the crime situation we want to secure our homes and burglar-proof the place. But we must also prepare ourselves in case of events like fire. Let us learn from this and when we are building our houses remember to make some arrangements for escape like a fire-escape, or a rope-ladder, or even have a sledge (hammer).”

Bridgelal, 41, three-year-old Amreka and 14-month-old Maya perished in a fire which investigators have blamed on an overloaded circuit in the house. Bridgelal’s brother, Prakash, who escaped by squeezing through a burglar-proofed window, was unable to rescue his sister and nieces. He was overwhelmed with grief at the funeral service, staring constantly at the single white casket which contained the charred remains of his sister and nieces.

He fainted on the roadway when the casket was placed in the hearse to be taken to the Mosquito Creek for cremation. The casket remained closed, but on the top was placed a framed photograph of the mother and two daughters, and two white teddy-bears.

“Nobody again,” he cried out at one point in the service, “nobody to brush teeth with me. Maya, nobody to brush teeth with me again”.

At the start of the service, retired police officer Jaglal Singh said he understood the family’s grief since he lost his teenaged son by drowning last year.

“You don’t know what death you will pass through. But this family has to stand strong in the Lord. You only know when a death strike you how you will react,” he said.

Maharaj said the tragic deaths were the result of “karma” and urged the mourners to pray for the three souls to rest in peace.

“We must show people all our love and support when they are alive, because you don’t know when you go to sleep if you will see them alive again.”

Bridgelal’s father, Bridgelal Hansa, her mother, Chanardaye, and sister Radica Boysie, travelled from Canada to attend the funeral. Hansa said while the fire was consuming the house, a neighbour telephoned them the news.

“We told them to break the wall. Break the wall and get them out. But I guess nothing could have been done at the time.”

The father said he hoped to return to Canada with Prakash, who is still blaming himself for being unable to rescue Bridgelal and her daughters.

Bridgelal’s son, eight-year-old Suresh, sat with his grandparents during the service. Suresh has been living with his father, Daveanand Sookarmanie, since his parents separated two years ago.