Five children tragically died in a horror house blaze after an electric heating stove caught fire while their mum was out selling scrap metal.
The young kids, aged between one to five, were apparently left at home in Turkey’s western İzmir region and perished from smoke inhalation on November 11, the Mirror reports.
Local media are reporting that mum Melisa Akcan had left the house for a short while to collect the money for scrap metal she had collected to feed her children. However, a fire broke out at 7.30pm, swiftly engulfing the entire house and trapping the siblings.
Neighbour Esma Sahin, who ran to help during the fire, told local media: “It was a very painful incident. The children had locked the door and their mother had left. They all died on top of each other. Those children were not at fault.”
Family friend Soner Sahin claimed she heard the screams of the distraught mum. She revealed. “The fire broke out at around 19:30 last night. I had come home from work, all I heard was the screams of the mother, Melisa Akcan. She was shouting, ‘Auntie Esma, my children are dead.’”
Three of the five children rescued from the house succumbed to smoke poisoning, while two were critically injured and rushed to the hospital but could not be saved despite doctors’ best attempts. A detention warrant has been issued for the 27-year-old mother. Anadolu Agency stated that the father is currently in prison.
Esma described the moments of horror, telling Aydin Detay: “We went into the house, there was a lot of smoke. At that moment, their mother Akcan was taking her children out. At that moment, I realised that five children had already lost their lives. They had been poisoned by the smoke. One of the children had burns on his body. Their mother had left the children alone in the house to collect scraps and buy bread. If we had known, we would have looked after the children.”
According to neighbours, the family had been experiencing financial difficulties, and social services had visited their home 18 times this year. Officials claimed the family declined the opportunity to place the youngsters under state protection.
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