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Monica Bodden reporting
Today the body of 3 year old Danely Cabrera lay at the Corozal hospital morgue -after she was burnt alive inside her home in the village of San Narciso.

It happened sometime between the hours of 2am and 3 this morning..

Benita Magana - babysitter
"When I got up I heard the screaming. I came out and saw her screaming because the baby is in the fire. I couldn't do anything because of the flame from the fire. The lady said to my little boy to go inside the house and I told her no because there is too much flames."

Monica Bodden
"The entire house was already engulfed in flames?"

Benita Magana - babysitter
"Yes, when I got up I saw it totally destroy. I came out and saw her screaming and I ask her where is the baby and she said that the baby is inside the house."

Forty year old Ramona Cabrera and her 3 year old daughter were asleep when she felt her mattress on fire. She tried to put the fire out but the gas tank exploded. She managed to get out the burning house but her daughter was trapped inside...

Avelina Cabrera - Sister
"She was sleeping and because she doesn't have electricity she uses a lamp. She usually leaves it on for the baby. I don't know what happened but my sister told me that the mattress caught on fire. When she felt the heat she was already burning. She woke up the baby and told her to go outside but the baby didn't go. My sister tried to put out the fire by moving the mattress, while doing that the gas tank exploded. The pressure from the tank pushed her out of the house. The entire house was on fire. She tried taking out the baby but she couldn't, she was screaming for help but no one came to help her. She couldn't do anything."

"She is very bad, right now they are cleaning her wounds that's why they haven't let anyone in to see her. I want to say to the public that people are saying that my sister killed her baby but that is not true. She tried to save the baby."

The bungalow house made of wood and zinc was totally destroyed. The body of 3 year old Danely was found inside curled up in a corner near her crib. Her mother is hospitalized with first degree burns to her face and back and second degree burns to both arms.

Francis Thomas, Fire Chief
"This morning at about 4:30 we responded to a fire in San Narciso area. On arriving there we found the structure - a zinc structure about 14' x 20' already in its final stage of fire of extinguishment and so what we did was quickly extinguish the fire and on completing that we did a search where we found the body of a 3 year old known as Danely Cabrera already burnt up."

Monica Bodden
"Could you tell us at this point how the fire started?"

Francis Thomas, Fire Chief
"From our preliminary investigation we believe that it started as a result of a candle that was left near the mattress. We believe that when the mother Ms. Ramona Cabrera realize that the mattress was under fire she tried to extinguished it and when that failed based on the interview that we had with her she tried to move the mattress outside of the bedroom into the kitchen where the gas tank eventually caught fire. The hose that was connected to the gas tank is plasticated - the fire got out of hand and that led to her being burnt - her arms and neck area being burnt and consequently leaving the child in the building causing the child to get burnt up."

Benita Magana - babysitter
"She is a good girl. We always talked. I feel really bad because I couldn't do anything for her."

The family did not have electricity - and used candles and lamps.

Ramona Cabrera received first degree burns on her face and back and 2nd degree burns to her left and right arm.