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.
