标签： Guyana

GEORGETOWN, GUYANA – April 15, 2026 – An unexpected early-morning blaze tore through a residential property in downtown Georgetown on Wednesday, jumping to an adjacent popular budget hotel and leaving local business owners facing significant repair work, even as no casualties were reported in the incident.

The fire broke out shortly before 6:30 a.m. on Cummings Street, a central thoroughfare in the capital. It first swept through a wooden dwelling owned by Hugh Ross, a prominent Guyanese bodybuilder. Flames quickly spread from the home to the nearby four-story, 23-room Julian’s Hotel, Restaurant and Bar, located at the intersection of Cummings and Sixth Streets.

Julian McEwan, the hotel’s founder and owner, told reporters on the scene that he was not on site when the fire started, and received an urgent alert about the blaze from a neighboring resident. While the fire caused severe destruction to Ross’ entire home, damage to the hotel was largely contained to the building’s middle floor – one guest room was completely destroyed, and several adjacent rooms suffered only minor fire damage. The southern outer concrete wall of the hotel suffered surface damage where plaster flaked off from intense heat, and a portion of the building saw extensive water damage to bedding, ceiling infrastructure and electrical wiring from firefighting efforts.

Despite the damage, McEwan says he is determined to restore his business as quickly as possible, noting the hotel has been his life’s work. “Yes, this is my life! This is all I know now so I’m hoping that the insurance company works out something and let me get started and rebuild,” he told reporters Wednesday. Assessors from Hand-in-Hand Insurance were already on site within hours of the blaze to evaluate damage and process the claim.

Eight guests were staying in the hotel at the time the fire broke out, including one visiting Guyanese national. Miraculously, no injuries were reported among any guests, staff or first responders, though some personal guest belongings were damaged by water used to put out the blaze.

McEwan has already suspended all upcoming reservations at the hotel, including bookings tied to Guyana’s upcoming 60th independence anniversary celebrations. He is working with online booking platforms to relocate all upcoming guests to nearby accommodation while the hotel undergoes repairs.

Julian’s Hotel is a well-known budget lodging option in central Georgetown, popular with international travelers and overseas-based Guyanese returning to the country. McEwan was quick to praise the rapid, effective response from the Guyana Fire Service (GFS), which he credited with preventing far more catastrophic damage to his property. “Those guys did a fantastic job…The fire caught and was contained in one of my rooms when they got here. The response was great. They saved the building because if they didn’t contain that room, the entire internal structure would have been destroyed. They did a fantastic job in saving my property,” he said.

GFS investigators remain on the scene Wednesday to probe the exact cause of the fire. No representatives from Ross’ property were available to speak with media Wednesday, though multiple family members were seen meeting with firefighters to discuss the loss. Photos from the scene show a visibly distressed dog standing among the charred rubble of Ross’ home near its damaged kennel, the only visible occupant remaining at the destroyed property.

Investigators are expected to release a preliminary report on the fire’s cause in the coming days.

On the evening of Tuesday, 14 April 2026, a commercial passenger plane operated by Trans Guyana Airways (TGA) sustained significant damage after colliding with a herd of capybaras while landing at Eugene F. Correia ‘Ogle’ International Airport near Georgetown, Guyana. Remarkably, all 12 passengers and two crew members on board escaped the incident without injury, airline representatives confirmed.

The aircraft, a Beechcraft model registered as 8R-GAQ, was completing a scheduled inbound flight from Suriname when the collision occurred at approximately 6:00 p.m. local time, TGA spokesperson Christopher “Kit” Nascimento told local media outlet Demerara Waves Online News.

“Immediately after touchdown, the plane collided with a herd of capybaras that had strayed onto the active runway,” Nascimento explained in an official statement. The aircraft’s propeller struck one of the large rodents, which are native to South America and known locally in Guyana as watrash. While the spokesperson could not confirm whether the propeller suffered catastrophic failure, he confirmed the plane’s landing gear (undercarriage) sustained severe damage in the impact.

Following the collision, the aircraft’s engines were shut down and the plane was moved off the active runway to clear air traffic operations. An anonymous source familiar with the incident added that the pilot took quick evasive action immediately after spotting the herd, a maneuver that likely prevented a far more catastrophic accident that could have resulted in fatalities.

Nascimento highlighted that the incident stems from a growing wildlife hazard problem that has plagued the airport in recent months, linked to ongoing major road construction works surrounding the airfield. He noted that large wild species including capybaras and caimans have been driven out of their native habitats by the construction activity, and have become a persistent “plague” that regularly crosses the airport’s runway.

“Airline and airport teams work continuously to ensure wild animals are cleared from the runway before aircraft receive clearance to land,” Nascimento said. “In this case, the collision occurred after the plane had already touched down, when the capybaras ran into the aircraft’s landing gear.”

Officials have not yet released details on the cost of repairs to the damaged aircraft, or what long-term measures will be implemented to mitigate the ongoing wildlife hazard at the airport.

More than a year after 11-year-old Adrianna Younge’s body was recovered from a Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo hotel pool, Guyana’s Director of Public Prosecutions has greenlit a formal inquest to fully examine the circumstances of her April 2025 death, law enforcement officials confirmed Tuesday. The inquest will specifically probe the root cause and contextual details surrounding the child’s death, which occurred between April 23 and 24, 2025 at the Double Day Hotel property.

The Guyana Police Force announced Tuesday that it has received the DPP’s formal direction and is moving forward with all required procedural steps aligned with local law. In a statement accompanying the announcement, the agency emphasized its commitment to maintaining public trust in sensitive death investigations, noting it will uphold strict standards of professionalism, accountability and integrity throughout the inquest process.

Younge’s body was first discovered in the Double Day Hotel swimming pool on April 24, 2025. By May 26 of that same year, police had announced that a final postmortem examination conducted by three internationally recognized forensic pathologists had officially ruled the child’s death a drowning, with no evidence of foul play.

To address public and family concerns surrounding the death, the autopsy was a collaborative effort involving multiple independent experts. Two pathologists—Dr. Glenn A. Rudner and Dr. Shubhakar Karra Paul—were commissioned by the Guyana government to conduct the initial examination on May 3, 2025. Younge’s family and their legal representative, Darren Wade, arranged for an additional independent expert: Dr. Gary L. Collins, the Trinidad and Tobago-born Chief Medical Examiner for the U.S. state of Delaware, who also joined the examination.

The full forensic report released by police outlined a series of consistent findings all aligned with a drowning ruling. The examination confirmed no evidence of sexual assault: an external examination found the child’s hymen intact and no abnormal changes to genital tissue. No traumatic injuries were detected across soft tissue or skeletal structures, and all injuries observed on the skin were confirmed to have occurred after death, caused by prolonged submersion in water.

Key forensic markers consistent with drowning were documented during the examination: a residual foam cone was found in Younge’s nostrils and oral cavity—dispelling widespread online rumors that cotton wool had been placed in the child’s nose. Characteristic “washerwoman” wrinkling of the skin on both hands and the soles of the feet, a common change caused by prolonged immersion in water and consistent with drowning, was also noted. Forensic experts found approximately 1 milliliter of fluid in the sphenoid sinus, an air-filled cavity at the base of the brain that is a common marker of drowning, and additional fluid was detected in the lungs, another consistent indicator of death by drowning.

Comprehensive supplementary testing, including toxicology screening and DNA analysis, further supported the ruling of drowning with no foul play. Toxicology results found low levels of ethanol that were consistent with natural postmortem decomposition, not pre-death consumption. Testing conducted as part of a sexual assault investigation and DNA analysis for potential suspects returned negative results. There was also no evidence of restraint, a struggle, or that the child’s body had been moved and returned to the pool after death.

The new inquest ordered by the DPP will open a formal public inquiry into the death, marking the next step in the legal process following the initial postmortem findings.

On Monday, April 13, 2026, widespread panic buying of gasoline and diesel swept through major population centers in Guyana, leading to kilometer-long lines at operating fuel stations and leaving stations without stock completely empty. Even after President Irfaan Ali publicly confirmed that fresh fuel shipments would reach the country by Monday night following emergency talks with the nation’s top fuel importers, motorists rushed to fill their tanks and stock up on extra fuel supplies.

The most dramatic scenes unfolded at GUYOIL and RUBIS stations, which remained partially stocked as the shortage unfolded. At GUYOIL’s high-traffic Regent Street location, motorcyclists bypassed standard vehicle queues entirely, arriving with five-gallon containers to stock up on reserve fuel to avoid future shortages. Local law enforcement was forced to implement emergency traffic restrictions on Regent Street, blocking through traffic west of Camp Street to accommodate the massive queues that wrapped from Regent and Camp Streets all the way back to South Road. A second, similarly large queue formed further west on Regent Street near Kong Street.

In sharp contrast, the MOBIL filling station located at the intersection of Regent and King Streets sat almost entirely deserted, with no pump attendants on site — a clear indication the location had already sold out of all fuel stock.

President Ali explained the root of the shortage during an interview with Demerara Waves Online News, noting that industry leader SOL/MOBIL encountered unexpected shipping and logistics issues after the anchorage for one of its fuel tankers failed, forcing the vessel to return to port for repairs. He clarified that the disruption has not impacted fuel supplies for Guyana Power and Light (GPL), the country’s primary public electricity provider, adding that critical power infrastructure would remain fully operational through the temporary disruption.

The president added that state-owned GUYOIL confirmed it maintains adequate existing fuel stocks, while competitor RUBIS is already ramping up its incoming supply volumes. “RUBIS and GUYOIL said that they don’t foresee a challenge and they have orders in line and some of it will arrive as early as tonight (Monday) night,” Ali stated, noting that government officials are continuing to monitor the situation closely to ensure importers follow through on their delivery commitments.

This level of widespread fuel shortage and consumer panic has not been seen in Guyana since the 1980s, when the country endured years of prolonged, widespread shortages of multiple fuel types including kerosene for household use.

In an incident that has sparked official scrutiny in Guyana, a serving detective sergeant with the Guyana Police Force has been taken into close custody following a shooting that left a local gold miner injured on Sunday afternoon, law enforcement officials confirmed in a public statement released Monday. The update, first published by Demerara Waves Online News on April 13, 2026, details a sudden confrontation that unfolded just after 5 p.m. local time at Chanta Creek, located along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.

According to official police accounts, the off-duty detective was visiting the popular creek-side location with members of his family when a verbal misunderstanding escalated into physical conflict. Multiple men involved in the dispute attacked the officer, with at least one assailant wielding a cutlass — a large, sharp machete-style blade common in the region. Facing the ongoing assault, the detective drew his service-issued 9mm pistol and fired a single round toward the group.

The bullet struck a 37-year-old gold miner who resides in the nearby Yarrowkabra Creek community, hitting him in the right leg. Emergency response efforts began immediately after the confrontation: the injured miner was located by his relatives, who coordinated with arriving police officers to transport him quickly to Mackenzie Hospital for urgent medical care. As of the latest official update, the miner remains admitted for treatment and is listed in stable condition, with no immediate threat to his life.

In line with standard police protocol for on and off-duty officer-involved shootings, the detective has been placed under close arrest pending a full, transparent investigation into the circumstances of the confrontation. Authorities have not yet released additional details about whether any other charges will be filed, or when the investigation is expected to be concluded. The incident comes as Guyana continues to grapple with public scrutiny of police use of force, alongside ongoing industry activity in the country’s artisanal gold mining sector.

On Monday, April 13, 2026, a 26-year-old domestic worker from Guyana was formally arraigned on a murder charge in connection with the alleged death of her 7-year-old daughter, law enforcement authorities confirmed. Sarah Elizabeth Shivpersaud, a resident of Fyrish Village on the Corentyne in Berbice, made her first court appearance at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court, where the indictment against her was read by presiding Magistrate Michelle Mathias.

Under standard judicial procedure for indictable offences, Shivpersaud was not required to enter a formal plea during the hearing. Following the presentation of the charge, the magistrate ordered that the defendant be remanded into state custody, and adjourned all further proceedings in the case to May 12, 2026, when the matter will resume for additional legal processing.

The charge stems from an incident that unfolded at Shivpersaud’s home, where responding police officers first discovered the unresponsive body of 7-year-old Isabella Dabidyal, a student at the local Cropper Primary School. Alongside the deceased child, officers found the defendant’s 21-month-old son in a semi-conscious state, and observed self-inflicted knife wounds on the back of Shivpersaud’s heels.

All three individuals were immediately transported to a nearby medical facility for urgent care. The toddler received treatment for his condition and was subsequently released to care, while Shivpersaud was admitted for observation and treatment of her injuries before being discharged into police custody to face legal action.

According to official statements from investigators, the defendant told authorities she had been driven to desperation after being abandoned by her husband, leaving her and her two children without financial resources or access to food. The tragic case has drawn attention to widespread challenges of economic insecurity and unaddressed mental health support for vulnerable households in rural Guyanese communities, as the judicial process moves forward toward a full resolution of the murder charge.

Guyanese President Irfaan Ali has publicly confirmed a temporary national fuel shortage on Monday, 13 April 2026, attributing the disruption to an unexpected logistics incident affecting major fuel importer SOL. The issue emerged after one of SOL’s cargo vessel anchorages sustained damage, forcing the fuel-laden ship to turn back from port, cutting off planned incoming supply to the South American nation.

The announcement comes as photos circulated online showing lengthy queues of motorists waiting to refuel at RUBIS gas station on Vlissengen Road, highlighting the immediate public impact of the supply crunch. Following an emergency meeting with all major fuel suppliers operating in Guyana, President Ali shared updates on the government’s response via his official Facebook page.

“I met with fuel importers today to address the current fuel shortages. I’ve been assured that shipments are expected as early as tonight, with additional supplies already being sourced to meet national demand,” the President wrote.

In subsequent comments to Demerara Waves Online News, President Ali clarified that fuel supplies for Guyana Power and Light (GPL), the country’s primary public electricity provider, would remain fully unaffected by the supply disruption, easing fears of widespread power outages across the nation.

According to President Ali’s briefing, state-owned fuel operator Guyana Oil Company (GUYOIL) currently holds adequate stock to meet demand, while competitor RUBIS has confirmed it is positioned to supply as much fuel as the country requires, with new shipments already en route. He added that RUBIS is already moving to boost its on-ground distribution to ease short-term tightness.

To proactively prevent further supply issues, President Ali announced he has issued an order directing GUYOIL to utilize 100% of its available storage capacity to build up reserve stocks. He emphasized that the national administration is maintaining close, continuous monitoring of the fuel supply situation to ensure market stability and consistent flow of product to consumers, noting that officials will follow through to verify that all supplier commitments for incoming shipments are met.

“RUBIS and GUYOIL said that they don’t foresee a challenge and they have orders in line and some of it will arrive as early as tonight (Monday) night. Well, we are monitoring it to ensure that the assurances given are followed through with,” the President stated.