Mother and four children die in Harlow house fire

Sabah Usmani, her sons Sohaib, 11, and Rayan, six, as well as 13-year-old daughter Hira, died in their end-of-terrace house in Barn Mead, Harlow, Essex at around 1am .

A third son, Muneeb, nine, and daughter Maheen, three, were rescued by fire crews and taken to hospital in critical condition, although Muneeb later died at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. The couple’s three-year-old daughter Maheen remains in a critical condition.

Dr Abdul Shakour battled to try and save his wife and children in what police said were “appalling conditions” and sustained smoke inhalation injuries. He is not considered a suspect and police say he is trying to help with inquiries despite his injuries and state of shock.

Fire crews were called to Barn Mead in Harlow at 1.45am on Monday after neighbours were alerted to the blaze by screams from inside the house.

The force confirmed that a car was also found alight a short distance from the house. The vehicle is not thought to be connected to the family, who came to the UK from Pakistan in 2009. At a press conference, police said the family were well known within the community and Ms Usmani was also a doctor.

Head of the Essex and Kent Serious Crime Directorate, Gary Beautridge, said his sympathies were with Dr Shakour, who is in the intensive care unit at Princess Alexandra Hospital. “Our work with Mr Shakour to establish some of the facts of this case will, inevitably, take time because of the emotional trauma he has suffered at the loss of his family. His condition is described as stable,” he said at the press conference.

Mr Beautridge said that the fire is being treated as a serious crime, and that it could have been started intentionally, but added that there is not yet enough information to determine a motive.

“We have no information or intelligence to suggest this [fire] is linked to the ethnic minority community in Harlow,” he said, but added that police are working closely with community leaders and said that key information about the crime “could lie within the community of Harlow”.

The house will be forensically examined to find out how the blaze started.

‘100 per cent alight’

Firefighters called to the scene described the house as being “100 per cent well alight”, with flames coming from the front and back doors.

Essex Fire and Rescue Service assistant divisional officer Steve Foster, incident commander, said: “Crews arriving at the scene did everything they could.

“They were faced with a rapidly developed fire and went straight into the burning building wearing breathing apparatus to bring people out as quickly as possible.

“Once casualties were out, they worked alongside ambulance teams to do all they could.

“Fire investigation teams are now working with police to establish how this tragedy happened and our thoughts are with those the family left behind.”