UPDATED: A six year old girl who died in a house fire yesterday afternoon at the corner of Oranga and Rawhiti Rd in Onehunga has now been named.
Desperate attempts at CPR by paramedics and fire crew were unsuccessful at reviving ‘Anaseini Ma’asi, who died after inhaling fumes from a fire that caused by a three year old toddler playing with matches.
Parents Muli and ‘Amelia Ma’asi were not at the scene when Kaniva News arrived this afternoon but a Tongan who lived closed by said the family moved and now staying at Muli’s parents’.
She called on her cellphone to talk to 'Amelia telling Kaniva she is her close friend and wanted to ask her when would ‘Anaseini’s body be released from hospital. No one answered the phone.
Eight children were in the house while the second storey went ablaze.
A ten-year-old managed to drag the three-year-old to safety after the house's smoke alarm went off.
Fire Service national manager of fire investigation and arson Peter Wilding said fires grow incredibly quickly and the family did not have enough time to save both of the children.
"In the time it took to remove that one little child out of that room, take them downstairs and come back to the room the fire had developed to a point they couldn't make entry again and that is the tragedy".
Fire investigators were working at the scene but left when Kaniva News arrived.
They will be back tomorrow morning, they said.
The Fire Service says the incident has been the first fatality in a series of 200 house fires lit by children over the past three years.
