Two of three children who were found unconscious in their burning home have died almost three days after being rushed to hospital.
Emergency services were called to the brick property in Sydenham, in Melbourne’s northwest, on Sunday night to find smoke and flames billowing from the roof.
It took fire crews up to 30 minutes to retrieve the siblings – two girls aged five and one, and a boy aged three – before they were taken with critical injuries to the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Police said the two girls died surrounded by family in hospital on Wednesday morning, while the boy remains in a critical condition.
Detectives from the arson and explosives squad are investigating the fire, including who was in the property at the time and just before the blaze.
The father of the boy told reporters on Tuesday the three children were “happy little kids” and must have felt “petrified” during the ordeal.
“I hope they didn’t feel anything to be honest,” he told news crews outside the hospital on Tuesday.
“Obviously they would have, but I just tell myself they didn’t.
“It shouldn’t have happened.”
Emergency services were called to the brick home in Sydenham, in Melbourne’s north-western suburbs, about 9.40pm on Sunday to find smoke and flames billowing from the roof.
The three and one-year-old children did not suffer physical burns but had to be treated for severe smoke inhalation while the man said the eldest child, whom he step-parented, may not survive.
Detectives are investigating the circumstances of the blaze and trying to establish if any adults were home at the time.
Investigators believe the fire started inside a room at the rear of the property with Detective Acting Inspector Adam Henry ending speculation that fireworks were involved, despite neighbours hearing a loud bang before the fire.
Det Henry confirmed police had spoken briefly to the children’s distressed mother, who was at the hospital.
He was unable to clarify if she, or someone else, was at home with her children at the time of the fire and said it was too early to say whether the fire was suspicious.
The mother and children had only moved into the property a week earlier, he said.
It took 30 firefighters and 10 appliances, including an aerial unit, several hours to extinguish the blaze.
Firefighters located an apparently uninjured pet dog at the scene on Monday morning.
