A man and a woman have died and four children were taken to hospital after a fire broke out at a house in Manchester.
Firefighters were called to the blaze in Withington, south Manchester, shortly before 2.30am on Friday.
Neighbours described how the three boys and a girl, aged between 10 and 17, jumped from their upstairs bedroom window as flames engulfed the house.
The deceased man and woman are understood to be their parents. The other man, who remains in hospital, is thought to be a relative who was visiting the family.
Neighbours said they were woken in the middle of the night by screams from near the detached home. One described how she heard a woman who lived at the property pleading with firefighters to “save my house, please save my house” as the property was engulfed in flames.
“I woke up at half two because I could hear screaming but it got more aggravated,” said Emily Puckering, 22, who lives opposite the house. “Then I could hear the popping of the window expanding – I know the sound because I’ve had a house fire before.
“I looked out of my window and I could see thick black smoke – that shows how hot it was. The flames were coming out of the frontdoor, it was an orange glow. It was a really big fire.”
Puckering, a student, said a police officer making door-to-door inquiries later asked her whether she had seen anyone “loitering around” before the blaze took hold.
Another witness described the dramatic scenes as neighbours rushed out into the street to catch the children from their bedroom window.
“There was a lot of commotion outside, then we heard screaming and loud bangs. My wife looked out of the window as sometimes students come home and throw wheelie bins around,” said one neighbour, who did not want to be named.
“All she could see was black smoke, we went outside and saw the fire, we heard screaming from the window at the back of the house and could see a girl.
“I went to get ladders and the fire crews arrived. One of the girls, a 17-year-old, jumped from the window and landed near the garage. She had really bad injuries to her legs and hips and was complaining of back pain.
“My neighbour Robert picked her up and moved her and she told him her siblings were still inside. He told the kids to jump and said, ‘I’ll catch you’.
“The fire was so bad you couldn’t see. The kids jumped and he broke their fall. Another neighbour got water and blankets for them.
“Fire crews were told there were three more people inside and they went in. They found one man on the staircase and dragged him out. He was given CPR on the pavement.”
Ch Supt Was Chaudhry said detectives were treating the fire as suspicious but were keeping an open mind about the cause.
Appealing for help from neighbours, Chaudhry said detectives would carry out forensic analysis and comb CCTV to determine the cause of the blaze.
He paid tribute to neighbours who he said worked “frantically” to help save the children before emergency services arrived.
“It was absolutely fantastic what they did. Without their help, the individuals receiving hospital treatment would have had more serious injuries,” Chaudhry said.
Councillor David Acton, the chairman of Greater Manchester fire and rescue authority, praised firefighters for tackling the huge blaze.
He said: “Our firefighters did a great job in tackling the house fire, which was well alight when they arrived, so praise must go to them for dealing with this difficult and extremely sad incident.”
Another neighbour, Athra Mania, said she was friends with a woman who lived at the house. She told the Manchester Evening News: “Our children go to the same school. They are very friendly and a very nice family. I saw her maybe two days ago. One of my friends told me what happened so I had to come down to see.”
Two upstairs bedrooms and the roof of the property appeared to have been badly damaged by the fire.
The road was cordoned off and police and fire service vehicles stood outside the house.
Fire and crime scene investigators wearing white body suits worked at the scene, taking photos and carrying equipment into the property.
DI Tony Lea, of Greater Manchester police, said: “My thoughts are with the family of the man and woman after such a tragic incident and we have specially trained officers supporting the family at this time.
“We are continuing to work closely with [the fire service] to establish exactly how this fire started and I urge anyone who may have witnessed the fire, or anyone in the area in the hours before the fire: if you have any information at all, contact police as soon as possible so we can piece together what happened.”
The Rev Mark Hewerdine from the nearby church of St Chad’s, Ladybarn, said the blaze had shocked the tightknit community.
He said: “It’s an awful tragedy. As a parent it touches you quite deeply to hear that children are involved … Some people have been around here a long time and people are upset and shaken up by it.”
He added that his church would open at 6pm for prayers and that there would be a book of condolences for the family.
