Two dead in Independence fire

A tragic fire in Independence on Monday night has claimed the lives of two of the village’s residents. Sixty-year-old Elizabeth Diego and one-year-old Rudolph Green were burned to death inside their small wooden house, which caught fire around seven-thirty Monday night. Preliminary investigations by police reveal that Diego’s common law husband, Ricardo Lozano, left some water to boil on the stove in the kitchen and went to lie down in his bed. Shortly after, Lozano told police he was awakened by intense heat. He apparently panicked when he realized that the house was on fire, and fled through one of the doors, leaving his spouse and the baby, his grandson, inside. Before the grandmother and the infant could be rescued, police say a butane tank inside the building exploded, fuelling the intense blaze, which several villagers told News Five by telephone could be seen from a distance. After the fire was put out, authorities combed through the rubble where they found the bodies of Diego and Green, burned beyond recognition. Authorities say a post-mortem examination is planned for Thursday at the Southern Regional Hospital in Dangriga.