Two children perish in Dangriga fire
archangel higinio
alexander higinio
The Benguche community in Dangriga Town is today reeling from the deaths of two children who perished in an overnight fire at the start of the weekend. It is a tragedy that sees an extended family searching for answers into the heartbreaking loss of their loved ones. Both parents left the siblings Alexander and Archangel Higinio, at their small house located near the outskirts of town. The fire broke after midnight on Saturday morning and by the time both parents got the news, the kids had been burnt to death. News Five’s Isani Cayetano was in Dangriga and has the tragic story.
Marie Castillo, Mother of Deceased Children
“My son, he was sitting in the chair when I left. He was watching TV. I went outside and I called him outside to give him a bucket so he can carry inside and that was it. He carried it inside and he pulled back the door and I went. That was the last time I saw my son.”
Isani Cayetano
“For parents Irisi Higinio and Marie Castillo, leaving both children behind to attend a wake on Friday night proved a tragic mistake.”
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
According to Judith Bonillo, a next door neighbor, she was startled by the sound of a loud explosion.
Judith Bonillo, Neighbor
“I was in my room sleeping and suddenly I hear a boom, boom sound and I woke and when I woke up I saw flame, not smoke but just flame, and I bawl for my mom and I called the police and the fire engine truck for help but the house was already crumbling down and I was asking if the children was in there and I bawled for one of my cousins “Adrian, Adrian please go, go try help dehn pickney out from deh car ah no so sure dehn deh een deh.”
Sure enough both seven year old Alexander and his four year old sister Archangel Higinio were trapped in the inferno. Residents who initially responded to the blaze watched helplessly as the wooden structure was consumed by flames.
Stephanie Lino, Neighbor
“A guy who was around by the name of Pablo tried to remove one of the siding from the house but at that time one of the wires on the house started to spark so he could not have done anything to get inside. He tried to go around but noticed that flames were already engulfed so he was unable to get inside so as not to endanger his life.”
charles vernon
The National Fire Service arrived at the scene minutes after receiving the call from Lino but there was nothing they could have done to save the siblings.
Charles Vernon, O.C. Dangriga Fire Service
“We quickly got into operation, start our firefighting and approximately fifteen minutes after we brought it under control. During this fifteen minutes we had a lady came by on a bicycle and this is when she shouted “Where is my children? Where is my children?”
The mother who was a stone’s throw away from her grandmother’s house attending the wake of a family friend received word of the fire but did not take her common-law seriously.
Marie Castillo
“My baby father he called me and he told me that the house was on fire but I thought he was playing so I just jumped on my bike and I ride but when I looked up the street I saw the fire engine and I saw a lot of people. When I reached closer the house was done and I asked him for my kids. He said he don’t know where they are.”
Irisi Higinio, the children’s father, had been detained over the weekend and the results of police and fire investigations will determine whether charges will be brought against the couple.
Marie Castillo
marie castillo
“I don’t know if they are going to charge us, I don’t know. I don’t know.”
At Benguche Government Pre-School today a candle was lit in memory of four year old Archangel whom her teacher remembers as a bright and outgoing student who participated in this year‘s Festival of Arts.
Fidelia Alvarez, Pre-school Teacher
“Her favorite activity is dancing and she was so enthused about the dance that we practiced for the Festival of Arts. Even when we got to the festival there at the Parish Hall for a second there she was kind of upset because she wanted to get involved in basically all the plays that took place.”
It is yet to be made certain if negligence was indeed the root cause of the children’s untimely demise. Preliminary investigations conducted at the scene of the fire indicate that it may have started as the result of an electrical fan that was inside the living room. While that may be conclusive a parched note was found after the fire but we cannot determine if it pertained to the night in question. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
Yes!! the parents should be in jail for manslaughter’s, a big mistake over and over again, when people will learn???
God take this little angels on his arms!!
This is yet another tragic story one that is surely to break your heart. It is a bad habit for parents of Belize to leave their kids at home and go about their business. Many times the victims of the home burnt to the ground are from families living in small wooden houses, with poor living conditions not fit for kids at all.
To make it worse, the fan found inside the house came out of (China no doubt), and everyone in the rest of the world knows that china electrical products are poorly made and can cause tragic suck as this one.
But who is checking to see that those products meet certain standards before entering the country? No one.
I don’t not understand why only the father was arrested, what happened to the mother, is she allowed to go free after leaving her kids alone too.
i would blame the parents for leaving the small kids alone unattended. they are kids they need parent protection. why leave kids at night while they are out. even if it’s for a wake at least the dad or the mom should stay taketurns to vigil the kids. damn it’s very sad that kids died horribly.
when will parents understand that when you have children is their responsibilty to take good care of them, these were babies! How dare they just leave them at that time of the night to go to a wake, Mein mother and father should be in charge and jailed. What a painful death!!! Hope Jesus send his Angels to take them before they felt any pain.
SAD SAD< MY heart cry for them.
negligence was indeed the cause, they should go to jail. this is not the frist or the last that were going to hear about something like this, unlees the law do something about it . RIP
It seems they care more about the dead than their own children. It so sad. I hope the Human Services Department ensures they are charged with neglect. Leave the kids locked up to go to a funeral? Something is wrong with this lady! Her smile kinda look synic. No signs of pain!
I don’t know how a greiving mother can still give an interview to a media hoouse after the death of her two children. I really think she needs a lot of help. She didn’t care about those kids. She needs to be charge and thrown into Jail for a long time.
Gross negligence and Child neglect. I allways WONDER where the HELL is child services. They allways hold seminars, wasting money and going on TV making a show (B.S.). What they need to do is visit communities and document cases before these tragedies happen. Protect the little ones allways.
This is very disheartening and indeed a terrible terrible tragedy.. it is so unfortunate that this occured.. My deepest sympathies goes out to the family irregardless of the circumstances that led to this tragedy .. Now a lesson is to be learned from this tragedy.. hopefully Belize government can perhaps implement a child endangerment or child neglect law or add an amendment to a pre- existing law .. whereas persons will be reprimanded for endangering thier children.. The irony of the situation is the both parents left the kids unattended to go attend a wake for a friend / associate well now they have to have thier own wake for thier children…..
Those child could have been an asset to Belize! Who knows?
what i cant understand is how they only putting everything on the father what about the mom i see it this way when a woman lay down to make kids then all clubing & partyin stop and that the time stay your a.. at home everyone is make the dad look like he a bad father well let me let u all no some thing he is a damm good dad everywhere he turn those kids was with him .yes he made mistake leavein his kids alone but what about the mom if she still wanted to keep partyin then she should have keep her leg close. the father is a hard workin man do anything for his kids love them a hole lot him losein his kids is something he will have to live with for the rest of his life. her if the police dont put her a.. in jail she will go back doing what she was doing the night them babies die
I think the parents need to be charged, this is clearly neglect.
It is soo sad. the mother should be jailed. she has a responsbilty to do. she knew from the time she became pregnat that party was over for her. a man will always leave but a woman should stay home. R.I.P NIRISIE AND MARISE
What do you mean “it is yet to be determined if negligence was the cause”? What is wrong with this country. THE CHILDREN WERE 7 AND 4 for Christ’s sake and BOTH parents left them home ALONE! Do you not think that with an adult, a parent being present the outcome could have been different?It is absolutely ridiculous that we will sit around and wait for this determination to be made. You have reported it. You have confirmed it. THe parents should absolutely be charged. Only when we start taking crimes against children in our community (and YES this IS a crime) can we even begin to expect a better society! Justice needs to be served for the these poor children. Heaven knows how many more parents aren’t out there abandoning their children at home alone while they go out doing their own thing. How many more children need to die before we start taking things seriously around here?
This is one of the reasons children should not procreate. Amandala listed the mother’s age as 21, her oldest child is 7. 14 year olds are not allowed to make legal decisions, why do we expect them to be responsible parents? Her reasons for being at the wake instead of at home with her children makes sense , their father was with them when she left. Jailing a woman who assumed adult responsibilities b4 she was emotionally or financially capable just gives us our pound of flesh. Sterilize them both, he knocked her up at 13 or 14, he too, was young but he was an adult & if the neighbors claims of a pattern of neglect is true, we will be doing them & society a favor by removing them as contributors to the gene pool.
To all the people saying the mother should be charge, i don’t understand why u would want the mother jail or charge, the mother left them with their FATHER (not alone) he had the responsibility to take care of those children until she came back, i wonder if he put the children to bed and went to make sure the mother wasn’t with anybody else , (some men love their kids 100% and love the mother 150% so they always want to know where & with whom she’s with, he had a responsibility to those kids) but guess what Bze this will all be over within a few months, remember the seven whose mother when out and left them with their FATHER but he jumped out of the window and left the kids to burn, and that was seven, what did the government do? they gave the FATHER a gift of a new house and they got married probably has seven more to make up for the seven they lost, when will we as a society stop letting the FATHERS off the hook, we say we want FATHERS for our kids but we are still will to make excuses for them. yes she opened her legs but guess what she didn’t get herself pregnant and if that man new the kind of common law he had he could have took away his kids and give them a better home. Shalom people
well this info about the father left to check on the kids was never told in the news cast that day so we all thought that they both new the responsability of not leaving the kids alone. but you as a key witness of that should be there for the court session to bring in that info. and we the belizean would have thought different if that was said Sandra. thanks for that info and hope you can be a help for this case.
BELIZEAN PRIDE you need to check all the news stories, because none of the stories always get the entire truth str8, n if i was there u could be sure those kids would be over my house sleeping. we need to get back to the time when an entire village raise a child . the blame game is not putting us anywhere.
AMANDALLA
Their initial investigations revealed that around 9:00 p.m. on Friday, April 16, Lancia Castillo, 21, a domestic, went to a wake at a nearby house, leaving Irecie “Rice” Higinio, 26, a driver, of the same address, to take care of their children Alexander Castillo, 7, and Marise Higinio, 4, at the house.
Irecie Higinio apparently locked up the house around 2:15 a.m. to attend the same wake, on 7th Street, leaving both children alone in the house.
THANK YOU SANDRA FOR THE UPDATE CAUSE REALLY I ONLY READ CHANNEL5 NEWS AND WATCH IT TOO WHEN I CAN AT HOME. BUT THANKS AND I HAVE A BETTER IDEA NOW.
Moving on, I do not care if the mother left the father behind for a few minutes to look after the kids, or the other way around, two kids are dead, and no excuses will bring them back.
The mother must have known that at some point the man would leave the kids at home and go to the wake.
When the father showed up at the wake, the mother should have immediately left the wake and gone home to care for her kids, and to make sure they were not left alone.
When she decided to go home, it was too late.
They should both be charge and given jail time for negligence.
U DONT TALK ABOUT MY FAMILY U LIKE DAT OKAY!!!THE BWOY DIDNT WANT TO LEAVE HIS SISTA SO HE STAYED WITH HER SO SHUT UP!!!!