MANCHESTER, Jamaica — An elderly man perished in a house fire in Inglewood near Mile Gully in Manchester on Thursday morning.

Relatives named him as Rupert Morgan. Morgan is believed to be in his 70s.

Preliminary reports suggest that Morgan was cooking in the early morning when a gas cylinder exploded. Firefighters received a call of the house fire at 5:18 am. Morgan’s one bedroom board house was destroyed.

Susan, a caregiver for Morgan’s 99-year-old aunt at a neighbouring house, said she heard cries for help.

“One of the time I heard someone saying ‘help, help, help’ then I saw a head and his teeth. It looked like he came out [the house] and ran back in for something and burn up,” she said.

She recounted her last interaction with him.

“His brother brought the gas yesterday and left the gas down here and in the night, maybe after 10 pm, he (Morgan) came and knock the door… He said he came to pick up the gas and I told him where it was and he carried it go up,” she said.

“I don’t know what happened from that until this morning when I heard the explosion,” she added.

It is believed that Morgan was using a lit candle as Inglewood remains without electricity following the passage of Hurricane Beryl three weeks ago.