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CCNTV6
  • 2 years ago
Yet another tragedy befalls one of the nation's children.This time, it is a fire which ripped through the bedroom of a 13-month old in Endeavour, claiming her life as she slept. Camerawoman Kerry Patrick and reporter Urvashi Tiwari Roopnarine visited the scene of the tragedy.
Transcript
00:00 This is all that's left of the crib where 13-month-old Harley Passad took her last breath.
00:08 The room where her mother, Leandra, placed her only daughter to rest still smoulders,
00:14 even after undertakers painfully place her tiny body in their vehicle for removal.
00:20 Leandra was taken to hospital for burns suffered when she and her husband, Hemant, attempted
00:26 to enter the flaming room to rescue their 13-month-old baby girl.
00:32 Harley's distraught father was discharged from hospital but had to return due to distress
00:37 suffered from smoke inhalation.
00:41 Harley's granddad, Devsaran Passad, tells us the day started off as it usually did.
00:47 Right now I'm more or less at a blank.
00:51 Something hurts straight right now.
00:58 The situation was just unfortunate.
01:01 No one saw it happening, you know.
01:05 The parents took Harley to drop off her five-year-old brother, Liam, to school.
01:10 Little did they know the siblings will never be reunited at home again.
01:16 When she walked through the gate, big smile, I got probably one of the last smiles from
01:20 her.
01:21 Mr. Passad says the tiny tot was fed, then put to bed while her parents went to tend
01:27 to their garden before they were all alluded to the fire.
01:31 When I ran upstairs, I heard a ball out once.
01:33 And as I said, when I saw the volume of smoke, I realized that she couldn't handle that.
01:41 He too suffers burns as he made four attempts to enter the room.
01:46 Only yesterday.
01:47 That little child was playing in the room then.
01:51 I was sitting on the step, putting on my shoes to go out.
01:56 And on three separate occasions, they would call her back and she just came to me, just
02:01 looking for a hug.
02:02 So I had three good, big hugs from her before this incident.
02:07 Through his initial shock, Passad laments that such tragedies unfold in a split second,
02:13 and his granddaughter was too innocent to cry out.
02:17 She was helpless, he says, to the disaster unraveling around her.
02:22 If you see Patricia, you'll realize she's a beautiful little kid.
02:29 Always with a big smile on her face.
02:32 Neighbors Chris and his brother Bobby sustained injuries trying to save Harley.
02:38 Everybody tried to come to assist.
02:40 And trying to assist, we ran in, tried to the hose, to try to out, but the room was
02:46 on fire already.
02:48 When it come, I run across, come, and I went to get fire, some neighbors went to get, but
02:55 that was unable to sustain the fire.
02:59 They too are left with a sense of helplessness.
03:02 It's remembering that it was a riot day, we could have pulled it, we could have get like,
03:06 you know, like five minutes, maybe before, could at least go in and get the baby.
03:12 Chief of Parliament for the area, Vandana Mohit, is among the crowd gathered on Ramlikan
03:17 Drive.
03:18 Residents would have tried their very best to save the baby, but unfortunately they were
03:24 unable to.
03:26 But I want to really commend those guys at the same time for what they have done.
03:30 It's a really sad situation.
03:32 I know this family very well.
03:34 What I can say is, it has already happened, but we will be here with them standing all
03:39 the way.
03:41 On hand to express condolences to the Passad's, our Mayor Faiq Mohamed and his deputy Marissa
03:47 Ramlukan.
03:48 It's devastating news and very tragic.
03:52 You know, when you have fire, it destroys property and it's easy to rebuild and replace
03:58 property and, but to replace our life, especially of our child, there's nothing you can do for
04:04 that.
04:05 There's no words I can say to console the family at this point in time.
04:08 But as a corporation, we are all human beings and we are there to lend support.
04:13 Due to the number of tragedies affecting children, the Mayor says the borough plans to embark
04:19 on a life-saving skills series for schools within their jurisdiction.
04:23 Meanwhile, at the Passad's home, Liam, who ironically always says he wants to be a firefighter,
04:31 has returned from school, sharing a bright smile just like his sister's.
04:37 It is evident that he still doesn't know that his sister is no more.
04:41 His grandparents haven't yet figured out how to break his tiny heart.
04:47 Urvashi Tiwari, Rupnurain, TV6 News.
04:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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