Ortiz Pascoe was looking forward to spending Christmas with his family but the 43-year-old mechanic died following a freak accident at his workplace on Sunday.
Pascoe, of Seaview Gardens in St Andrew, reportedly suffered severe burn to his face and upper body when a minibus that he was working on caught fire at his garage in the community. Reports are that the bus caught fire after an injector that Pascoe was using to turn over the engine started to leak gas. The engine allegedly backfired when it started to kick. Flames gashed, which reportedly caught the leaking injector. Pascoe attempted to remove a drum of oil that was inside the bus but spilled the contents, which led to an explosion. Pascoe was rushed to the Kingston Public Hospital but died later that night, according to his younger sister Ornella Pascoe. She told THE STAR that news of his death has rocked everyone in the family.
"He was so looking forward to it (Christmas dinner), but we never get to start discuss that because I was so tired on Friday when I came in from work, so I didn't go by my father's house," the tearful sibling said on Tuesday.
"He called me from my friend's phone because he just got a new SIM card for his phone. So when he called me I said to him, 'Ortiz weh yah hawk mi dung so fah?'. Him asked me if me nah bother come dung a yard come look for him. But even though I told him that I soon come, I ended up going to my bed because I was so unnaturally tired that evening," she said.
The grieving sibling said she was having lunch at work when an aunt called with the disturbing news. "From I got the news I haven't looked at any food," she said.
Appearing to be confused, Ornella said she recalled leaving the hospital on Sunday with the hope that her brother would live despite his severe injuries.
"His entire right (side of his) face was burnt. His neck, chest, back, stomach, arms and feet also. But I was there with him the entire time (on Sunday) and at no time did I felt that he was going to die. The doctor did not give me a reason to think that way, and because of how he was presented, he never gave me a reason to think that way," she said. "Him never inna no great deal of distress, the only time I could say that he seemed to be in distress is when I got to the hospital and because they were dressing him at the time. After that he got pain relief and him just lay down. He talked but he didn't open his eyes because him face burn. But him talk and held a full conversation."
"He was cognisant of where he was, he was very aware of his surroundings. He knew that he was cold, him tell me fi cover him, him tell mi fi cover him head and when him a turn him call me. When him hungry, him ask me for something to eat, me ask the nurse and she said no because he was burnt," she added.
Ornella's co-worker and childhood friend, Basil Prince, was also inconsolable and struggled to find the words to describe his emotions.
"Me know him from him a go primary school, me actually grow him. Him call me him father. A him life the man sacrifice fi di place. Just run left the bottle because everything weh burn can get back. Him see it a blaze, enuh, but him a try move weh the bottle but then it go bounce," he said.