THREE children died early Thursday in a fire of unknown origin at their 10th Field Barnwell, Mocha Arcadia, East Bank Demerara (EBD) home, while their mother was away at work.

Dead are eight-year-old, Timothy Kippins; six-year-old, Trayshaw Kippins; and one-year-old, Zhlia. Their mother, Tracy Flur, 23, is employed as a security officer.

When this newspaper arrived on the scene, scores of neighbours and onlookers gathered in front of the gutted house as the firemen searched for the children in the rubble.

The children’s mother was in a traumatized state, and according to relatives, she fainted several times.

A neighbour, who requested to remain anonymous, said she observed the house on fire, and immediately ran to the scene.

She also confirmed the children were left alone at the house, however, their relatives lived two plots away and would “check up” on them, while the mother was away at work during the nights.

She also recalled hearing screams from the home but within a matter of minutes, the fire consumed the one-level ‘shack’.

Fire Chief (ag.), Gregory Wickham, who was at the scene, told this newspaper that the Fire Service received the report at around 01:25 hrs. Two fire tenders were immediately dispatched to the location.

“Because of the terrain, they could not have come any closer to the scene. So, the firefighters had to get there by foot,” he told this newspaper.

The firefighters had to walk almost 20 minutes through a muddy dam to the scene.

“When they were in close enough proximity to the fire scene, they noticed flames and smoke…When they got closer, they realised that the building was totally gutted,” he added.

He explained that further information will be released once the post-mortem report is done on the victims’ bodies.

Investigators from the Fire Service and the Guyana Police Force were at the scene combing through the debris.

Around 13:00 hrs, the charred remains of the children were removed from the scene.

The police also questioned a father of one of the children, who said that he was away at work when he learned of the news.

The investigation is still ongoing.