Photograph: Aymen Mohamed/PA
Police have launched an investigation into a house fire in Bolton that claimed the lives of a five-year-old girl, her two brothers and her mother.
Investigators said the blaze, which reportedly started in the front room of the property just before 9am on Saturday morning, was not being treated as suspicious.
The only survivor, Zubair Umerji – father of the children – was taken to hospital on Sunday after jumping from the first-floor window. He then attempted to smash his way back into the house in Rosamond Street to save his family.
His wife Anisha, 40, their two sons Hammad, 12, and Yusuf, 10, and daughter Khadija, were all killed by the fire.
Bouquets of flowers were left at the scene as neighbours paid tribute to the family, who had lived on the road for more than 15 years.
Maimuna Choksi, 80, told the Manchester Evening News: “The children were outside playing all the time. All of them were very nice, you would see them after school. When I was outside, they would wave at me through the window.
“Anisha was a very good girl, she used to come here and I would visit her. Her husband was a really good boy and all of them were an important part of the street. I am very sad.”
The newspaper reported that the fire started in the front room of the red-bricked building.
Bolton Council of Mosques, which named the family, said funeral details had yet to be announced.
It is understood that the family attend the Jamia Darul Quran Masjid mosque in the Deane area of Bolton.
