HEATER SPARKED FIRE THAT KILLED MUM AND HER THREE CHILDREN

A MOTHER and her three young children died in a ‘significant and powerful’ house fire sparked by a portable halogen heater.

Aneesa Umerji, 40, her sons Hammaad, 12, and Yousuf, 10, and her daughter Khadijah, five, all died in the tragedy in Daubhill, Bolton.

A coroner recorded verdicts of accidental death after an inquest hearing at Bolton Coroner’s Court.

The inquest into all four deaths heard the small heater had been switched on and placed near a sofa in the living room of the family’s terraced home on Rosamund Street.

The heat caused the sofa to smoulder ahead of a ‘spontaneous ignition’ when husband and father Zubair Umerji opened a window, letting in oxygen.

The inquest heard he was woken at around 7.30am on Saturday, July 8, by son Hammaad in the bathroom. The youngster then went downstairs and Mr Umerji returned to bed. He was woken by cries from his daughter Khadijah and was confronted by thick black smoke as he opened his bedroom door.

The inquest heard he raced downstairs to look for his children and ‘instinctively’ opened the window to release smoke. The electrics in the house also failed.

He climbed out of the same window and screamed for help after searching the open-plan living room and kitchen.

In a statement read out by coroner Timothy Brennand, Mr Umerji said: “I couldn’t see any of the children and I jumped out. I was shouting for help but I couldn’t see anyone. It was Saturday morning. I went back to the window and smashed the window to try to get back in. I was wanting to get back inside but was pulled back by neighbours.”

He had suffered severe cuts and burns. “I tried desperately to save my family,” Mr Umerji added in the statement. “There was nothing more that I could have done when the emergency services arrived. I feel like I am living a nightmare and I will wake up, but I will not. I cannot believe that I will never see them laughing or their faces again.”

The inquest heard firefighters were on the scene in just four minutes and broke down the front door.

All four family members were found inside and died as a result of smoke inhalation, post-mortem examinations proved.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service fire scene investigator John Duffin said the sofa would have ignited even if the window had not been opened. Mr Brennand said: “I am satisfied that Mr Umerji did everything and all that he could do in these tragic and dire circumstances.”