Gazing at the burning rubble where his pregnant girlfriend La Keisha Grant perished along with five-year-old Amy Chattergoon and grandmother Everlina Miller, Trey Chattergoon broke down in tears.
Clutching the fence as the fire crackled, Chattergoon bawled out.
Neighbours hugged him, consoled him and urged him to remember the story of Job from the Bible who lost his family and suffered the worst affliction.
"Don't blame God, don't question him. You will overcome this, Trey," a relative sobbed.
Up to late Saturday, Kimberly Chattergoon was warded in a critical condition at the Intensive Care Unit of the San Fernando General Hospital. Another relative, Rosetta Bramble, 55, suffered superficial burns and is also warded at the hospital.
Police said the fire started at 2:15 am at Caratal Road, Gasparillo, while the family slept. Nikita Baptiste said she started smelling smoke and saw flames leaping from a room on the second floor.
La Keisha Grant.
Baptiste started evacuating her relatives as the flames spread wildly. Amy ran towards a hallway at the back door, but the flames were too much. Her remains were found crouched in the hallway.
Relative Rhona Charles said Trey tried to get everyone outside, including Grant. However, she went back into the house and was also trapped by the flames.
Charles said, "They came out, they made checks and my cousin said her mother inside. Trey thought his girlfriend was outside, she had left the house walking behind him, but she went back to get something, and she died. My cousin's daughter Amy was found in the hallway to the back door. That area was well alight. She could not get out from the back. If they had to get out, it would have been through my aunt’s house to the front.
Five-year-old Amy Chattergoon.
"They were trapped. My aunt was immobile. For her to come out, someone would have had to go for her. It was real, real sad."
Charles recalled how she heard Amy screaming for her father, Arnold Chattergoon.
"We heard her crying, 'daddy, daddy!' She was closest to the room. Her father was not there, he had gone with his other daughter to the hospital," Charles added.
The house had been separated into two units, with seven relatives living to the front portion and seven more to the back. The entire structure was flattened by the fire, which ravaged two cars, a white Toyota Aqua and a white Hyundai Accent.
Grandmother Everlina Miller.
Actg FSO Jackson and a team from the Mon Repos Fire Headquarters arrived on the scene and stopped the blaze from spreading to other homes. Trey later identified the corpses.
While smoke and fire rose from the rubble, relatives, neighbours and friends lined the street looking on, wiping away tears and comforting each other.
T&TEC officials quickly repaired the charred electrical wires and restored electricity in the area. Officers led by ASP Ghool, Sgt Mungroo, Cpl Johnson and PC Boodram arrived on the scene.
The bodies were viewed by District Medical Officer Dr Rajkumar, who ordered them removed to the Forensic Science Centre. Autopsies will be done tomorrow.
The cause of the fire has not been ascertained. Investigations are continuing.
