Pregnant mum (27) dies in fire tragedy
Husband and young daughter devastated by loss
A CO Antrim community was plunged into mourning last night after a pregnant woman died following a fire at her home.
Named locally as Sinead Stewart (below), the 27-year-old died at Whitepark Road in Ballycastle yesterday evening.
Mrs Stewart, who was married with a young daughter, is understood to have been four months pregnant. Councillor Cara McShane said: “People in the area are completely stunned by the news.”
Police said last night: “The death is not being treated as suspicious.”
A PREGNANT mother-of-one has died following a fire at her home in Co Antrim.
Named locally as Sinead Stewart, the 27-year-old, who was four months pregnant, died at the scene in Ballycastle.
Emergency services including the air ambulance attended the house in the Whitepark Road area yesterday evening just after 5.30pm.
Married to her husband Alistair in 2015, the couple have a young daughter together.
Friends of the young woman have been expressing their grief and heartbreak on social media.
One friend posted on Facebook: “Actually cannot take in what has just happened. I have no words. Thinking of all your family.”
Others described her as a “lovely woman and mother”.
Sinn Fein councillor Cara McShane said: “People in the area are completely stunned by the news that the young woman has died.
“While more information is to come out, I want to send my prayers and thoughts to her family at this very sad time. The family are very well-known and respected in the area.”
Ballycastle Independent councillor Padraig McShane said the local community was stunned and numb with grief.
He said: “It would appear that a number of unfortunate factors have conspired to end this young lady’s life. The detail of the tragedy will be revealed in the fullness of time but at present, on behalf of the local community, I would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the deceased.”
Ulster Unionist councillor Joan Baird, who lives near the Stewart family home, commented: “This is a tragedy and it appears that she has come home and perhaps started making the tea and then this happens in the flash of an eye. I want to express my sympathies. A young child has lost her mother, it’s an awful event.”
SDLP councillor Margaret Anne McKillop described the sense of loss and disbelief in the close-knit North Coast community.
“There’s just a sense of utter shock and horror in the community” she said. “My thoughts and prayers are with the young woman’s family and friends at this devastating time. I can’t imagine what they’re going through. It’s the worst news. I know the community here will rally round them at this incredibly difficult time.” A spokesman for the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said: “We got a report of a house fire at 5.25pm. Nobody was taken from the scene.”
A PSNI spokesman said: “Police attended the scene of a sudden death of a woman in her 20s in the Whitepark Road area of Ballycastle. The death is not being treated as suspicious.”