An unimaginable tragedy with five children losing their lives unfolded last Saturday afternoon in the city of Bullhead, Arizona, USA when a fire broke out in the house they were in while their father was away buying Christmas presents.
Of the five children, four, aged 2,4,5, 13, 11 and XNUMX years old, were siblings while the fifth child, XNUMX years old, was a relative who had visited them at home.
The fire broke out at around 5pm on Saturday (local time) with police announcing that the father of four told officers he was gone for around 2,5 hours to shop at the supermarket and buy Christmas presents.
The fire brigade's investigation showed that the fire started from the downstairs entrance of the house "making it impossible for the children who were in an upstairs room to escape".
According to American media, all five children were found in the same room while the fire "climbed" from the only staircase in the house, thus blocking the only exit.
Eyewitnesses described the neighbors' desperate efforts to reach the trapped children: "We opened the garage door but the smoke filled the space and suffocated us. We didn't know the kids were alone. If we had known, we would have tried to reach them."
Source: protothema.gr