Four Syrian children have died in a house fire in Istanbul after an electric heater set their home ablaze.
The incident took place in the Esenyurt district of Turkey’s largest city Istanbul at around 2am yesterday (14th December).
The four children have been named as Besme, Sahin, Ahmet, and Selva, aged 1 to 9, and their mother Fatma Hammud was taken to hospital along with one of the youngsters’ siblings, who has been named as Sakkur Hammud, 2.
The police are still investigating the fire, according to the Istanbul Governor’s Office, but preliminary information indicates that an electric heater may have caused the blaze in the four-storey building that killed the four children, who lived in a basement flat and slept in sleeping bags.
A neighbour named as Mustafa Demir in local media reports said that it was impossible to save the children due to the intense smoke caused by the fire.
The bodies of the four children have been taken to a morgue although it is unclear if there will be an autopsy before they are released for burial.
The mother Fatma and her child Sakkur are still being treated in hospital and there have been no further updates regarding their current health condition.
