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Two bodies have been found in the search for two missing children after a massive fire ripped through a house in NSW’s Blue Mountains overnight.
Emergency services were called to the home on Lieutenant Bowen Road in Bowen Mountain around 2am on Monday following reports of a fire.
Five people, including a man in his 30s, a teenage boy and two primary school-aged boys, were inside and managed to escape the flames.
Two people – believed to be children – were unaccounted for.
NSW Police confirmed later on Monday morning two bodies had been found following a search for the unaccounted-for residents.
‘Officers attached to Hawkesbury Police Area Command have established a crime scene,’ a spokesman said.
‘Inquiries are now underway to formally identify the bodies and determine how the fire started.’
The tragedy comes as it was revealed the family were due to move to Queensland today, with the mother and one of the children having left a day earlier.
Two bodies have been found in the search for two missing children after a massive fire ripped through a house in NSW’s Blue Mountains overnight
Emergency services were called to the home on Lieutenant Bowen Rd in Bowen Mountain around 2am on Monday following reports of a fire
Four people were transported to hospital with smoke inhalation and minor injuries
Neighbours told the ABC the family, which includes six children, were in the process of moving to the Sunshine State when the fire broke out.
The blaze, which took two firefighters two hours to get under control, is believed to have caused extensive damage to the home.
NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Trent Curtin said the damage caused by the fire made the search more difficult for firefighters.
‘There are parts of the home that are still hot and smouldering, and many parts of the home have collapsed, so firefighters are moving into the home with hose lines to gain access to areas where they can search for the unaccounted for people in the home,’ he said.
Commissioner Curtin said fire investigators had used drones and a canine detection dog to search for the two missing people due to the ‘very, very dangerous’ state of the building.
‘This is a two-storey home, and so it would have been very, very dangerous for firefighters to access the home in the early stages with the home fully engulfed in flames,’ Commissioner Curtin said.
Four people were taken to Nepean Hospital with smoke inhalation and minor injuries where they remain in a stable condition, a NSW Ambulance spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
More to come.
