Georgetown Guyana:--- Police Wednesday evening confirmed that it was indeed a fragmentation grenade that exploded, killing one man and injuring 19 others earlier in the day."Parts of a fragmented grenade have been recovered by the team of investigators which include police explosives experts, and it is believed that "American" was holding it in his hand at the time of the explosion," said police in a statement.
The mid-morning incident occurred in one of the rickety wooden shops on the parapet south east of the Stabroek Market when a device exploded.
Among the injured was a 4-year old child.
At about 1045h. today the police responded to an explosion which occurred at Brickdam and Cornhill Street, Georgetown, in the Stabroek Market area, where they found the body of a male of African ethnicity, who is known as "American", with his left hand blown off and his face partly damaged, police said.
From initial investigations it is suspected that the explosion may have been caused by a grenade which also resulted in injury to eighteen other persons who received medical treatment at the GPHC.
At the time of this press release ranks of the crime scene unit were still combing the scene for any further clues as to what may have happened.
The names of the injured are listed below.
Police Chief of Criminal Investigations, Seelall Persaud would only say that there was an explosion and that the crime-scene was being processed.
The location where the explosion occurred
Bomb experts from the security forces were deployed to the area which was cordoned off and secured by police on horseback and others heavily armed with automatic weapons.
Fire Chief, Marlon Gentle told reporters at the scene that immediately after the explosion, the fire service responded and rushed several of the injured to the hospital."Some of the injured persons ran to the fire station and we started to move them and we sent out a unit here, the constabulary cordoned off the area... Of course, it was chaos here to get the people out," said Gentle.
The Georgetown Public Hospital said that at 10:41h, the following persons were brought to the Accident and Emergency Unit following an explosion at the Stabroek Market Square:
- Marvyn Adams, age 30, of 248 First St. Mocha; injury to left arm
- Seon Barrow, age 4, of 3 Bagotsville, WCD; injury to left shoulder.
- Gampattie Mohanlall, age 66, of 21 Timehri, EBD; injury to left foot.
- Irfan Alli, age 42, of 54 Stuartville, WCD; injuries to right eye and left thigh.
- Victorine Campbell, age 76, of 19 New Hope, EBD; injury to right shoulder.
- Clayton Alleyne, age 30, of 318 Kuru Kuru, Soesdyke Highway; injury to right eye.
- Egbert Austin, age 40, of 74 Soesdyke, EBD; puncture wound to the abdomen and admitted to the Male Surgical Ward.
- Ester Sutherland, age 55, of 44 Palm Street; injury to the neck.
- Avis Davidson, age 49, of 59 Laretrait WCD; sustained burns about the body.
- Surjpattie Rajkumarie, age 63, of 213 Grove Squatting Area EBD;
injuries to the left shoulder and skull. - Sandra Harrilall, age 33, of 81 Diamond Housing Scheme; injury to
the right shoulder. - Trefa Hinds, age 31, of Cummings Lodge, ECD; injuries to the eyes and jaw.
- Dennis DeFreitas, age 50, of32 Robb Street, G/T; sustained a
puncture wound to the left forearm. - Malvina David, age 67, of 4 Aubrey Barker Road, S/R/V; injury to
the right thigh. - Randolph Browne, age 34, of 538 Mocha Housing Scheme; injuries to
the neck and upper leg. - Allen Daniels, age 50, of 23 #41 Village, WCB; injury to the chin.
- Edward Dalton, age 38, of 76 Hyde Park, Timehri, EBD; injuries to
the left leg, thigh and neck. - Shane Wiggins, age 28, of 33 1st Herstelling, EBD
- Unknown, male of African descent; multiple injuries about the body.
Alleyne and Hinds were sent to the Main Operating Theater while the others were sent for X-Rays. An update on their condition will be issued later.
It is noteworthy that the persons who were involved in this incident were all treated within an hour of their arrival at the A&E. Doctors,
nurses and other A&E staff worked meticulously to ensure that all victims were treated in a timely and efficient manner.
Demerara Waves