Family members of the six people killed in Monday’s early morning fire at a home off Homestead Avenue and Miami Street have positively identified their relatives and are now making plans to lay their loved ones to rest.
Modeline Barrett, whose sister, aunt and niece were among the victims of that fire, spoke to the Bahama Journal outside the Rand Laboratory at the Princess Margaret Hospital moments after identifying her loved ones Tuesday.
She said it continues to be a difficult time for her surviving relatives as they now begin the daunting task of planning multiple funerals.
Joashanique King, a two-year-old, was the youngest victim. Her body less charred because her mother, Jennifer Bissaint, 22, also killed, shielded her during the ordeal.
Marilyn Palmer, 52, along with her 23-year-old daughter, Unissa Pratt, Travon Grant,17 and Melchizedek Bain, 15, were the other casualties of Monday’s blaze.
“We have a lot of things that we need to do right now,” Ms. Barrett said. “We have to meet with the detectives and the Church.”
Ms. Barrett who lived at the home where the fire occurred is lucky to be alive. She was not at home that morning.
As the family struggles to deal with this tragic loss, speculation is mounting over the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Neighbours and relatives have pointed out several factors that they deem suspicious – including the fact, that all the victims were found in the same room and it appears from some accounts, that the family may have been locked inside the structure as some neighbours claimed that all of the doors had been nailed shut from the outside.
Authorities meanwhile, are dismissing these assertions and say the investigation is still ongoing.
Fire Services Chief Superintendent Walter Evans says the investigation should be completed in just a matter of days.