Mother and five children killed in house fire
Six members of the Kua family including a mother and a child aged two were killed in a house fire in north west London earlier today. Police have said they are not treating the fire as suspicious.
Emergency workers were called to the semi-detached property in Sonia Gardens, Neasden shortly after midnight after a blaze had started at the home.
Six people died in the blaze in total.
Police confirmed that they were all part of the Kua family and named the deceased as 41-year-old Muna Elmufatish, the mother of two teenage girls Hanin Kua (14) and Basma Kua (13).
Another girl Amal Kua (9) and the youngest of the family Yehya Kua (2) was also killed in the blaze.
Emergency personnel tried to revive five year old Mustafa Kua from a cardiac arrest but where unable to resuscitate him.
Two other people were taken to hospital – Bassam Kua, aged 51, the father of the family is in a stable condition and Nur Kua aged 16, his daughter remains in a critical condition.
Around 30 firefighters from Willesden, West Hampstead, North Kensington and Park Royal fire stations were called to the serious blaze at around 1am, fire officials said.
They were joined by officers from the Met and medics from London Ambulance Service.
Station manager Glen Gorman, who attended the scene, said when they had arrived the house was “engulfed” in flames.
He said: “There’s no doubt, this is an absolute tragedy. My thoughts, and those of my colleagues at the London Fire Brigade, are with the friends, family and loved ones of those affected at this extremely sad and difficult time.
“We are now working with the police to ensure a full and thorough investigation is carried out.”
“Crews worked extremely hard in some very, very, difficult conditions and were able to prevent fire spreading to adjoining properties and causing further injuries or even further tragedy.
“There is a forensic examination being carried out at the moment, our specialist fire investigation unit, in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police fire investigators, will carry out a full investigation which could take a number of days to reach its conclusion.”
He added: “Our sincere condolences go out to the family and the friends of the people who have been involved in such a tragic incident.”
A neighbour who wished to remain anonymous said that they heard a “loud bang” before the blaze started.
The neighbour said:
“I was in my room and the window was open.
“I heard a loud bang, it was literally like an explosion, almost like a bomb.
“I thought it was really strange and within four minutes I heard sirens and police cars and we looked out the window and the fire had literally reached the top within five minutes.
“We all went outside and we saw firemen looking out the window and shouting ‘there’s people in there’.”
“It was horrific, my dad says he’s never seen anything like it in his whole life, honestly I was so shocked.”