‘Hopkins fire may have started at the residence of deceased Chinese businessman,’ Police say

Published by BBNTEAM at March 28, 2022

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Posted: Monday, March 28, 2022. 1:14 pm CST.

By BBN Staff: Police suspect that a fire reported in Hopkins Village this morning may have originated from the home of a Chinese businessman who died as a result of the incident.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Fitzroy Yearwood, head of communications for the Office of the Commissioner of Police, said that authorities responded shortly after 2:00 a.m. on the morning of March 27, to Rainbow Restaurant at the south end of the village to find the establishment in flames. Yearwood said that after personnel from the Belize National Fire Service extinguished the fire, they found the body of 39-year-old Jing Deng Tan.

Initial investigations revealed that the building contains several living spaces and that one of the occupants woke up just before 2:00 a.m. to the smell of smoke. He tried to alert Tan but was unable to do so.

“He lived alone in his apartment,” Yearwood said, also noting that there is no indication of what may have started the fire. “Indications are that the fire started at his apartment.”

Tan’s body was taken to the Southern Regional Hospital Morgue where a post mortem examination will be conducted.

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