Toddler dies in Ottley Hall house fire
While investigations are ongoing, a candle is believed to have started the fire that claimed the life of an 18-month-old baby, Wendell Welcome, over the weekend.
The fire, which took place at Ottley Hall sometime after 7 on Sunday evening, completely destroyed a wooden house which was owned and occupied by Winston âCompayâ Welcome and his wife Roxanne and their four children.
Reports are that the mother of the children went to a church service in Layou with the youngest of the children and left the other three at home with their father.
It is alleged that the father left 18-month-old Wendell in the care of the 3 and 5-year-old girls and went to fetch water.
A few minutes later the house caught fire.
The two older children were pulled from the blaze by a neighbour and rushed to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH), where they are currently warded, nursing first and second-degree burns.
When SEARCHLIGHT visited the scene of the fire on Monday, a few neighbours were present, but they did not know where to find the surviving members of the Welcome family.
However, a bystander commented that he had observed on many occasions that the children would usually be left alone. He said that he overheard someone saying that a candle had started the blaze.
The fire truck could not make it to the Welcomeâs home, as the area is accessible only by foot.
Firefighters therefore had to fight the blaze with buckets of water from a neighbourâs home.
The house and all its contents were destroyed and police are investigating. (LC)
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