‘Bring back my babies’: Mum of twins killed in house fire mourns tragic loss
A heartbroken mum whose two daughters died in a house fire in the NSW town of Batlow has opened up about the devastating loss of her babies.
Fire crews were called to the home of Tanyka Ford on Monday about 11am after it went up in flames.
Her two daughters Aisha and Lailani, twins aged three, were pulled from the home but both died at the scene.
Ms Ford was outside the home, with her six-year-old son, as the fire tore through and could do nothing to save the pair.
On Wednesday, Ms Ford shared her grief over losing two of her “beautiful babies” on Facebook.
“I’m absolutely gutted and hate myself for not being able to help more my babies. I love you so much,” she wrote.
“I don't know how I will ever be able to comprehend how this could have happened please let this be a terrible mistake please tell me my babies OK. Sadly as much as I pray nothing I say or do can bring back my babies.”
Family friend Jamie Werner told 7News Ms Ford’s kids “are her life”.
“She’s just going to be so empty now,” Mr Werner said.
A report’s being prepared for the coroner.
The twins had reportedly been playing with a burning pillow next to a log fire when their mum took it from them and, with her five-year-old son, disposed of it outside, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Ms Ford then couldn’t get back inside because the door was locked. She tried to get back in but to no avail as the fire swallowed the home.
“There must have been something else burning in the front room, Tanyka was screaming at them to unlock the door but they didn’t, the poor darlings would have been scared,” the girls’ aunt Tammy Du Bois told the publication.
“The girls couldn’t speak, they had their own special language, they adored each other, they were found in the front room huddled holding each other’s hand.”
Superintendent Bob Noble, Commander of Riverina Police District, told Nine News the fire was “particularly horrific”.
"The mother of the two deceased children is distraught, there was another young child present at that time, and you can only imagine what they're going through,” he said.
A GoFundMe page has been started to raise money for the Ford family.
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