A toddler perished yesterday in a house fire in Silk Grass Village in the Stann Creek District.
Four kids were home alone when the five year old reportedly started playing with a lighter which caused a mattress to ignite; it spread to devastating effect.
A neighbor rescued three of the kids, but their 3-year-old brother Isaias Lobos became trapped inside and was eventually consumed by the flames.
Tonight, the family is struggling to live in the makeshift remains of their home while touring the unthinkable loss. Cherisse Halsall and Codie Noralez went south to find out what happened and why the kids - aged three months to six years old - were home alone.
Yesterday a family lost their three-year-old son in the fire that consumed their home. Efijenia Lobos stepped out around 3:25 to run an errand and she left her four young children briefly unsupervised. She told us what she encountered when she returned.
Efijenia Lobos, Mother of the deceased
"My niece just called me to go and leave some change. I just quickly just went and came back and when I turned back the fire was already on and then our neighbour took my children. She helped me take them out. When I got to her she said your children are okay but I asked my other son if the other one was there and my son started to cry. He said he's being burned but we can't help it because he was on the upper bunk."
"And then she called the police so that they could call the fire engine. When they came the fire had already burned everything starting with the truck."
Unfortunately, there is no picture with which the family can remember baby Isaias because they lost everything in the fire. Every photo, every cellphone, every tangible memory.
Omar Ojeda is Lobo's common-law-husband and the father of the children. He told what he has been able to piece together about the death of 3-year-old Isaias in this utter disaster.
Omar Ojeda, Father of the deceased
"He was three years old and he was sleeping in a bunk bed so nobody couldn't find him in the house. They took out the other three that were in there but he was sleeping and the fire took place and nobody couldn't go in again, so he got burned in the house."
"I was in Independence working when I got the news about 5 that this disaster had happened and I took the six o clock bus to reach home and then I gathered the family. He was taken to the morgue and then everything burned down my truck burned down everything. We couldn't save anything."
Smoke is still rising from the ashes of the Lobos' house and the devastation this family feels will linger much longer.
Reporter
"And how are the other children doing today?"
Efijenia Lobos, Mother of the deceased
"Good, Good. Only she likes to cry too much because he used to sleep with her."
And as the ashes of heir home and the memories of their child are washed away with the December rains, how does a family even begin to recover?
Omar Ojeda, Father of the deceased
"Start all over from scratch that's all I can say, work a little harder now."
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