Five children and their dad killed in horror house fire as mum, 28, desperately tried to save family from inferno
FIVE children and their father have been killed in a house fire that destroyed their home near Brisbane.
Aussie police said the siblings were aged between 3-11 and that their 28-year-old mother had reportedly escaped the blaze.
Queensland Police Superintendent, Matthew Kelly, said the fire tore through multiple houses on Russel Island in southeastern Brisbane this morning.
“The house has been burnt to the ground,” Kelly told reporters.
“These young boys who could have been men in the future and a man has lost his life.
“We are still speaking with this poor lady who has lost her entire family.”
Witnesses so heavy plumes of smoke billowing into the sky as the house became engulfed in flames at around 6.20am local time, 9News reported.
Cops confirmed that six bodies had been found, including that of the 34-year-old father.
Neighbour, Angela Dawson, told local media that the young mother had tried to run inside the burning house, but her husband stopped her and ran inside instead.
“He told her not go to back inside… So she warned the neighbours by screaming. They are calling her their hero now, she saved them,” Dawson said.
She described the father as a “super dad” and “hero” for running inside the blaze to try to save his children.
“He was just a doting father who couldn’t wait to get home to play with the kids,” she added.
“The whole community is devastated, absolutely shattered.”
Superintendent Kelly said that that cause of the fire is still under investigation, but “we are not treating it as suspicious at this stage”.