Shocking twist revealed after twin girls die in house fire
WARNING - CONFRONTING CONTENT: The twins killed when their house became engulfed in flames had earlier locked their mum outside, according to their aunt.
Three-year-old sisters Aisha and Lailani were trapped inside their home in the NSW Snowy Mountain town of Batlow on Monday morning when fire ripped through it.
They had reportedly been playing with a burning pillow next to a log fire when their mum, Tanyka Ford, took it from them and, with her five-year-old son, disposed of it outside, according to The Daily Telegraph.
The mum-of-four was then unable to get back into the house because her daughters had locked the door, and that’s when three-and-a-half metre flames tore through the home, the publication reported.
“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.”
Ms Ford reportedly tried unsuccessfully breaking through the home’s windows to get to her daughters, who remained trapped until a neighbour and emergency crews broke through the front door.
Ms Du Bois said the girl’s were carried out unconscious and her mum, Sharon Du Bois, saw “their heads flopping” and thought they were still alive.
Sadly, the sisters, who were born premature and slightly “slow to develop”, died at the scene.
Ms Ford was left “covered in cuts and scratches” from attempting to break in, and according to Ms Du Bois, her eyes are “red raw from crying”.
Neighbour Carol Flannery, who lived next door when the girls were born, described them as gorgeous and said the sisters were the centre of the family.
“I was just shocked, beautiful little girls — my heart goes out to the parents and grandparents,” she told the ABC.
Police said on Monday afternoon investigations into the tragedy were ongoing.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated, but authorities believe a wood fireplace was burning inside the home at the time.
“If there are lessons to learn then we should ensure this doesn't happen again,” Superintendent Bob Noble told reporters.
Ms Ford’s brother Levi Ford has established a GoFundMe account to support his sister, who not only lost her twins, but her home and all of her family’s belongings.
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