Family of five die in fire

FIVE PEOPLE, including a nine-week-old baby and two other children aged nine and seven, have died in a house fire.

Shabbina Begum, 54, and her 20-yearold daughter Anum Parwaiz Kayani are also believed to have died in the blaze that broke out on Wake Road, Sharrow, Sheffield.

Ishfaq Hussain Kayani, the cousin of Ms Begum, said: “It’s just a huge tragedy. Words cannot describe how sad this is.”

He said a nine-week-old baby girl was among those who had died, as well as nine-year-old Adhyan Parwaiz Kayani and seven-year-old Amaan Parwaiz Kayani.

Describing the children as “full of life, quite bubbly and very energetic”, he said they had been looking forward to returning to school.

He said of Mrs Begum: “She was, to my children, like a mother, like an aunt. The whole community is in huge shock.

“As soon as the news broke just after midnight, we came round. I’ve been with the family.

“It’s so sad. A couple of hours ago the whole family was leading their normal life — quite prosperous, happy.

“Just in a matter of minutes the whole family has been destroyed.

“I don’t have the words to describe how the family is feeling, other than shell-shocked, devastated.

Mr Kayani described how the children’s mother Razia Nazim Kayani, who was also in the house, survived the blaze but was now in a state of shock and “beyond consoling”.

He said: “She managed to escape. The grandmother of the children, she made attempts to rescue the children but obviously it wasn’t to be. She came out then went back in, tried her level best.”

The children’s father Nazim Parwaiz Kayani was out working at the time.

Neighbours said up to 300 people came out in the street to try to offer help as the emergency services arrived.

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said the fire began shortly after midnight and a spokesman added: “An investigation has commenced, involving police and fire officers, to establish the cause of the fire.”

A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “At this stage we are not able to confirm where in the house the fire broke out, or if anyone else was injured.”

Pictures: PA/Getty Images. The house on Wake Road, Sheffield, where five people — including three young children — died. Inset: a heavy police presence at the scene of the tragedy yesterday.