A car fire that killed two children and left their mother with serious burns may have been started deliberately, gardai fear.
Investigators are treating the blaze, which took place near the town of Multyfarnham, Co Westmeath, as suspicious. Gardai said the car was not involved in a road accident and are still probing how the vehicle burst into flames.
It is believed a passing driver came upon the blazing car at around 4pm on Friday and tried to pull the children and their mother to safety. He managed to get the mother and the youngest child, aged two, from the burning vehicle. Unfortunately the child, a little boy, was later pronounced dead at the Regional Hospital in Mullingar.
Read more: Gardai 'investigating all of the circumstances' after two children die in Westmeath car fire
The mother, in her 30s, was the only survivor from the fire and last night she was being treated for burns at a Dublin hospital. The second child, a five-year-old girl who was due to celebrate her birthday next month, was later found dead in the car.
The road through the townland of Lacken just outside Multyfarnham was closed for most of the day yesterday as gardai examined the scene. The road reopened shortly before 6pm and a burned area where the fire took place could be clearly seen by the roadside.
A number of charred items which came from the car littered the area, including a pink rucksack believed to have belonged to the girl. Yesterday a man approached the cordoned-off road and placed flowers by the side of the road with the message, “Sleep little angels, from your senior infant friends”.
The man, who did not want to be identified, stood in silence for a few seconds and then walked away. A source said: “It’s a shocking tragedy. There is no evidence the vehicle was involved in a crash. Now the investigation is focused on finding out what caused the fire.”
State pathologist, Dr Sally Anne Collis, examined the scene and yesterday carried out postmortems on the two children. A source told the Irish Mirror a passing motorist raised the alarm after seeing the car ablaze. They said: “It is a quiet enough country road.”
Gardai appeal to anyone with any information in relation to the fatal incident to contact them. The incident room at Mullingar Garda Station can be contacted on 044 9384000, or contact the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
Forensic examination of the vehicle by the Garda Technical Bureau is continuing and the investigation is ongoing.
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