LIAT office among four destroyed in Guyana blaze

Fire officials say they’re unsure at this stage what started the fire that broke out after an explosion in the early hours of this morning.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana,  – An early morning blaze, that reportedly followed a loud explosion, has destroyed the Georgetown offices of regional airline LIAT and three other businesses.

By the time firemen extinguished the fire after receiving the 1:30 am call, the three-storey wooden building occupied by LIAT, Frandec Travel – one of the oldest travel agencies in Guyana –, Dagron Tours and H&F Machinery had been destroyed. 

Chief Fire Officer Marlon Gentle said the cause of the fire is yet to be determined but he said there were reports that a loud explosion was heard before the fire began.

Officials from some of the affected businesses went to the scene after hearing the news and were visibly distraught at the sight.

“It is a devastating loss for the company; it is the only asset the company owns,” Chairman of H&F Machinery, Peter Fraser, told Demarara Waves, adding that the lower and middle floors of the building were refurbished just late last year.

"It puts a full-stop to all the businesses... I can't think; I'm numb.”

Ann Hamilton of Dagron Tours was also stunned by the loss.

“All my data, my computers, files…There is nowhere for me to go and work…I don't know what to say,” she said.

Fire officers were able to contain the fire before it spread to any other building.

Local media reports indicate that about 30 workers have been affected by the blaze.

YOU’RE FIRED! Junior Minister sacked in Belize

Fired Minister of State in the Ministry of Works, Edmund Castro, has declined to say exactly what cost him his job. (Photo: Channel5Belize)

BELMOPAN, Belize, – Prime Minister Dean Barrow has fired junior Minister Edmund Castro for displaying behaviour unbecoming of a minister, but gave no details of the episode that cost the man his job.

In a brief statement issued yesterday by the Office of the Prime Minister, it was announced that Castro had been removed, with immediate effect, from his position as Minister of State in the Ministry of Works.

“The decision was taken following a report made to the Prime Minister about an incident involving Castro. The Prime Minister was satisfied, after due consideration, that the report was substantially accurate, and that Honourable Castro had engaged in behavior inconsistent with the high standards of propriety to which the Prime Minister seeks to hold his ministers,” it said.

No further details were given and, when contacted by the media, Castro declined to reveal the nature of the incident that resulted in his dismissal.

“I won’t get into that. I would like to keep it on the concentration on the people who sent me to Belmopan to represent them and I think I have done a very good job in terms of their representation in Belmopan and delivering many goods and services for them in the Belize Rural North Area,” he told radio station, LoveFM.

“The Prime Minister is the boss. He decides who stays in the Cabinet and for what period of time. I think it was a privilege for me to have served in his Cabinet for a period of two-plus years. Now I will concentrate on the next 18 to 24 four months to push projects and work in my constituency and help the people,” Castro added.

His replacement has not yet been named.

Caribbean360