71-y-o Maroon abeng blower perishes in fire
ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica – The official abeng blower for the Maroon community of Accompong Town in St Elizabeth, perished in a fire early Friday morning.
He is 71-year-old Hansel Reid, otherwise known as Rupee.
Mark Wright, a member of the community, told OBSERVER ONLINE that it was about 2:30 am when someone told him that Reid’s house was on fire.
He said when he got there the building was already engulfed in flames.
“I looked through the window and saw something like a human inside, and by the time the police and fire brigade came and carried out cooling down exercise, we showed them the spot where we saw that (human-like) object,” he recounted.
He explained that the walls had caved in by the time the fire was extinguished.
Checks were made and Reid’s burnt body was found and removed from the scene, Wright said.
Keleshia Powell
