Moruga in mourning

SCREAMS broke the silence of Bunyon Trace in Moruga yesterday when three-year-old Atiba Germia was laid to rest. The child was burnt to death last Wednesday when a gas tank exploded while his mother was cooking at their Moruga home.

“Oh God, where my baby,” mom Allison Dick cried as the small white coffin bearing the child’s body arrived at the family’s home. Dick had to be physically supported as she was on the verge of collapse, so overcome with grief was she, as she saw the coffin which remained closed.

During the incident, Dick reportedly was hanging up clothes while a pot of peas was on the stove. Her children were watching television. Screams filled the house when fire broke out and Dick immediately ran into the house to rescue her children.

However, Atiba was trapped in the burning house and perished, despite his mother’s best effort to locate and rescue him. At yesterday’s funeral, Dick still bore the burn scars from her failed effort to rescue Atiba.

Dick is a mother of four of which Atiba was the last. Neighbours told Newsday yesterday that since the incident, Atiba’s siblings have been asking for their little brother.

Officiating minister Winston Baptise, offered consolation to the family telling them, “do not mourn, because Atiba is wrapped up in the arms of God.”

Overcome with emotion, the dead child’s brothers and sister, bade a final farewell which moved mourners to tears.

As the funeral ended, Dick fainted and had to be carried away by relatives. The child was laid to rest at the Painter Cemetery.