Tragic twist after dad and daughter, 10, killed in fire
The fatal fire has rocked a Queensland community.
A dad who was found dead on Wednesday after a fire ripped through a shed at his rural Queensland property was due to marry the mum of his young child next week, police have revealed.
Tragically, the 10-year-old girl also died in the blaze that engulfed the structure at their property at Biggenden, northwest of Brisbane, on Tuesday afternoon.
The bodies of Todd Mooney, who ran the Biggenden Bakery with his fiancee Bec Hansen, and their little girl Kirra were retrieved from the rubble more than 24 hours later after fire crews were able to secure the scene, the Fraser Coast Chronicle reports.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Detective Chief Inspector Gary Pettiford said Ms Hansen had been at work when the fire began and was “called home to this grim discovery”.
“What makes the incident more tragic was the fact that the male involved and the female involved were due to get married next week, next Wednesday,” he said, the publication reports. “So the whole thing is very tragic for the community out there and they were actually getting married at the property.”
Ms Hansen is distraught and in a state of shock, he added, saying “it will to be a long time before she comes to terms with the loss of not only her partner but her daughter.”
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The cause of the fire, which police are reportedly treating as an accident, is currently unknown. “This investigation will go for at least two to three days before we'll know anything concrete,” Det Chief Insp Pettiford said.
“We treat incidents like this as a crime scene [but] that's not to say that anything untoward actually happened,” he told 9News, while also urging people to make sure that their fire alarms are working.
Devastated family and friends gathered at the property on Wednesday. A sign has also been placed in the couple’s bakery window reading: “Due to unforeseen circumstanced the bakery will be closed. Sincerest apologies from management and staff.”
With AAP
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