Mother and Infant Son Perish in Fire

On Friday, we reported on a Belize City fire that destroyed a house on Raccoon Steet, injuring Malika August and her two-year-old son, Jayden. Tonight, there is sad news to report following that incident. Both victims have succumbed to their injuries. On Saturday, around four twenty p.m., two-year-old Jayden August was pronounced dead at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where he was receiving treatment, and the following day, around eight p.m., Malika August also passed. For more details on what caused this tragic incident, we spoke with Kenneth Motis of the National Fire service for more details on the incident.

 

Kenneth Mortis, Station Officer, National Fire Service

“As protocol, we got into operation extinguishing the fire. And shortly after our investigation comments we learned that the building was occupied by two adults on a minor, namely miss Malika August  and mister Michael Gill and two-year-old  baby boy. During the Early stages before the fire department’s arrival, the mother and son were rushed to the hospital after we learned that they receive extensive fire damage to varying parts of their body. As the nation knows, since the weekend happened, both mother and daughter, both mother and son lost their lives as a result of the burns that they suffered which leads us to believe as a fire department, as a community. What safety measures do we have in place when faced with these types of situations? Prior to getting into to the cars the structure was built In such a way that it had actually one door which served its main entrance and exit. We learned that it is alleged the stove was left on and for some unknown reason, the mother, she went to take a nap and wind caught a whiff of that open flames. Using the curtain as a ignition source. So we’re looking at an open flame and sitting right next to that open flame was a butane tank. It was just a disaster waiting to happen. It’s again, it’s an unfortunate, fortunate event, a very sad one at that. We’re looking at an eighteen-year-old young mother and her son and that’s two lives gone way, way too early.”