Ten people, including seven adults and three children, have been killed after a fire tore through a house and a horrified firefighter who arrived to battle the blaze only to discover that the victims were his family, authorities said.
A criminal investigation into the fire is under way, authorities said on Friday. The children who died in the fire were ages 5, 6 and 7, Pennsylvania State Police said in a news release.
The other victims ranged in age from 19 to 79.
Nescopeck Volunteer Fire Co. firefighter Harold Baker told the Citizens' Voice newspaper of Wilkes-Barre that the 10 victims included his son, daughter, father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, three grandchildren and two other relatives.
The fire in Nescopeck was reported around 2:30 am [local time]. One person was found dead inside the single-family home shortly after emergency responders arrived, while two other victims were found later in the morning.
Three adults escaped the blaze.
"The residence was completely destroyed by the fire" and K9 units were deployed to help in the search for victims, police said.
'They’re all dead'
Baker said that the address initially given for the call was a neighbouring home, but that he realised it was his family's residence as the fire truck approached.
"When we turned the corner up here on Dewey (Street) I knew right away what house it was just by looking down the street," Baker told the Citizens' Voice. "I was on the first engine, and when we pulled up, the whole place was fully involved. We tried to get into them."
Neighbours reported hearing a loud popping sound or explosion before seeing the front porch of the home rapidly consumed by flames. Some also reported hearing a young man screaming in front of the home, "They’re all dead."
Baker, who was relieved of his firefighting duties because of his relationship with the victims, said 14 people were living in the home. One of them was out delivering newspapers, and three others escaped, he said.
"I tried to get in as fast as I can," he told the newspaper, saying he attempted to enter multiple times before his colleagues pulled him away.
“It’s a complex criminal investigation with multiple fatalities,” Pennsylvania officials said.
Source: AFP
Nearly 100 migrants traveling in a truck were found abandoned in Mexico, officials said, a month after dozens of people died in similar conditions in the United States.
The migrants were discovered on Wednesday night on a highway in the eastern state of Veracruz, according to authorities, who said the vehicle was headed for the US border.
"They indicated that they were abandoned by the driver," a police report said, without specifying the migrants' nationalities.
Civil protection authorities said that 98 undocumented foreigners were found at the site, including several children.
Around 100 more were believed to have fled, witnesses told Mexican media.
About a dozen people were reported to have been taken to hospital due to bruises and symptoms of asphyxiation.
Illegal migration
Transporting migrants in overcrowded trucks is one of the most dangerous methods used by people smugglers in Mexico.
In June, more than 50 migrants died after they were abandoned in a scorching hot tractor-trailer truck in San Antonio, Texas.
In December, 56 US-bound migrants from Central America were killed and dozens injured when the truck they were traveling in overturned in southern Mexico.
Around 6,430 migrants have died or disappeared en route to the United States since 2014, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Of those, 850 were the result of vehicle accidents or linked to hazardous transport, the United Nations agency says.
Source: AFP
