MEMBER of Parliament for South East Clarendon Ruddy Spencer has urged the government to immediately commence an investigation into Sunday’s death of five Indian nationals who were burnt to death at a house in Clarendon.

The five, including technical consultant Ajay Jadley, engineer Nakul Singh and turbine technician Anil Singh from the Dhampur Sugar Corporation in Delhi who have beenn working with the government-owned Sugar Company of Jamaica, perished in a fire at the Monymusk Estate, in Spencer’s constituency.

Spencer said that the tragedy was even more sad considering that they and their families were in the country providing much-needed technical assistance to the embattled sugar company and the industry, which is in dire need of international support.

He said that his constituents felt deep sympathy for the lost lives and wished to express condolences to the victim’s families and colleagues.

The MP said that there have been a number of unexplained accidents at sugar factories and estates recently, including Monymusk, which must be a cause for concern about the safety of the operations and the threat to lives of employees.

He called for a full and urgent investigation into the fire which caused the deaths, as well as an audit of safety measures at all the sugar factories.

At the same time, the National Council for Indian Culture in Jamaica, in extending sympathy to the families of the deceased, said it hoped that corrective measures would be put in place to avoid a recurrence of such circumstances in the future.