Father and 10-year-old daughter die in Hull house blaze

Cottingham fire — Image caption Crews were called to the fire at a property on Wensley Avenue

A man and his 10-year-old daughter have died in a fire at a terraced house on the outskirts of Hull.

Crews were called to Wensley Avenue, just off Cottingham Road, Cottingham, shortly before 08:00 GMT and battled to rescue them from the building.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene and his daughter was taken to hospital but died later.

Humberside Police said fire investigators were working to establish the cause of the blaze.

The father and daughter were the only people in the property at the time, the fire service said.

“We pulled out an adult male, and what we now know is his 10-year-old daughter, and tragically both lives were lost to the fire,” Humberside Fire and Rescue Service said.

“We have got fire investigation officers there who will be working tirelessly throughout today.”

Image caption A fire investigation team attended the scene

Neighbour Carl Goodfellow said he saw smoke coming from the building and tried to rescue those inside.

“We tried to break the door down, but them composite doors are a bit strong,” he said.

“I was banging on the window shouting, shouting through the letterbox.

“I was banging on the window to try and get some attention, but there was nothing.

“We did try to alert him, but there was no response.”

Image caption Neighbour Carl Goodfellow tried to break the door down to help the people in the house

Another neighbour Phillip Darwick said he saw a police car go by and came out to see what was happening.

He said: “When I looked down [the street] I could see a load of action and smoke billowing out.

“We’ve lived here a lot of years and so have they, so we think we know them.

“It’s quite shocking, you never think – it’s a cliché – but you never think it’s going to happen do you?

“It’s shaken me and my wife up, it’s quite sad really.”

Image caption An investigation into the cause of the fire has begun with specialist officers working in the house

Talking about the attempts by other neighbours to alert the people in the house about the fire Mr Darwick added:

“When I came out all I saw was a load of smoke come flying out of the window and it looked like it was coming out of the roof.”

“This event has turned out to be tragic in the loss of two lives in a house fire,” Steve Duffield from Humberside Fire and Rescue Service said.

“We worked tirelessly with emergency service colleagues to do everything we could.

“We sent breathing apparatus crews into the property immediately to attempt to rescue [people] but tragically it was too late for the individuals and we’re reporting a loss of two lives in this event.

“It’s a tragic event in any circumstance.”

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