00:00We leave this morning to go down the road to buy some rice and take up two bars of shot and come back home.
00:08And when we come back home, the police is on fire.
00:11McDonald Cabrera speaking with TV6 News and The Express.
00:14After having lost his common-law wife, 61-year-old Werner Regault,
00:19who was the only person in their home which was part of a house located just off Picton Road in Lavantel,
00:26Mr Cabrera said he injured his hand as he tried to open the letterbox to get the key, but the gate was locked.
00:56Mr Cabrera spoke of losing her and the life they built together in their home.
01:02I don't have nothing to put on, more than what I have on me, and three jockeys also in my life.
01:07I used to study with my kids, well, them have boyfriends and things, but my grandkids and them, how they make it now?
01:17That's why I didn't go to the hospital. I had to study how they make it now, I had to get in contact with all of them,
01:23and what was there, and what, and what, and what, and what. But God is a good man.
01:28An expression of faith in a time of loss and the need.
01:30So where they live and sleep now?
01:33You don't know.
01:33I don't know.
01:36All my boys have some nice, three nice chickens on training inside, them dead.
01:40I'm a party. You just talk about the morning.
01:43How about me see you boys?
01:46You just talk to them about the morning.
01:48One to the morning, morning, you're good, yeah, man.
01:52And my boys are dead, but they won't go on.
01:55All right, I can make that one for now, my brother.
01:58Andrea Pearson, who also lived in the building, which was engulfed in the flames, spoke with TV6 News and The Express off-camera.
02:06Around 11 minutes to 12, I observed it had smoke coming out from the ceiling.
02:12I told my minister to pick up the baby and evacuate the house.
02:18I went to my son's room, and when the smoke was already ticked in there, I told him to come out.
02:23She confirmed her efforts, and that of her neighbors, to try to save Ms. Regault.
02:28Ms. Pearson also said she was the only one in her home who was awake at the time the fire began.
02:34I didn't get to save anything. The baby, clothes, nothing, nothing.
02:39Any injuries sustained, though?
02:40No. Thank God for that.
02:43And what are you going to do going forward? What do you plan to do? What do you need?
02:46I need assistance. I need to rebuild, repair, the best ability.
02:57I know for tonight, I really need somewhere to put my head, to mature.
03:02On site was minister in the Ministry of Housing, Philip Alexander.
03:05The family in the back, they lost somebody, and they have a special needs child, so we're taking special care with them.
03:15The family in the front, they have a baby that was supposed to get christened.
03:19We have to organize a christened dress. A lot of information coming to us right now.
03:24Minister Alexander said he got a phone call from Housing Minister David Lee,
03:28who said he was in contact with the Housing Ministry's permanent secretary.
03:32And they rapidly organized two two-bedroom apartments, building two, Unit 3-1 and 3-3,
03:40in the true macaque development.
03:45And so we handed over keys, because everything happened quickly for them.
03:50Is this going to be like a temporary arrangement or something?
03:53Well, the first step, according to the line minister, Minister Lee,
03:57was to get the families somewhere to stay tonight.
04:01Right. And, but I think that it will be a situation once the other ministries,
04:07once the minister of the people and social development gets involved,
04:11they will finalize the arrangement.
04:14The houses are right now, you can't live in them.
04:17So we need to make sure that this is not just in this minute.
04:20We will take care of them for as long as it takes to get them back into their own homes.
04:24Minister Alexander said such a response is in keeping with the guidance of the prime minister
04:28for the Housing Ministry and the HDC to move in quick time to assist families in times of urgent need.
04:36Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
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