A one-year-old boy has died in a house fire in Collie, Western Australia, after being found in his cot as emergency crews tackled the blaze.
Police and firefighters were called to the property in Howie Place, about 200km south of Perth, at approximately 2.30pm on Sunday. Several people inside the home escaped safely.
Western Australia Police said the child was found dead inside the house. The source of the fire has not yet been established, and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services extinguished the flames.
The boy’s aunt, Kea Close, said the family did not want to release his name and described the loss of the 16-month-old as devastating.
Ms Close said the child’s mother had been outside with two of her other children when the fire started in a bedroom. She said the mother had tried to enter through the door and window but was confronted by thick smoke and flames around the cot.
“He was asleep in there, and she’s gone to open the door and the window’s just combusted,” Ms Close told 7News. “She couldn’t see anything from the smoke but when she got to the cot, it was just in flames. There was nothing she could do.”
Ms Close said the fire spread quickly and that the “whole house is gone”. She also thanked members of the Collie community who attended the scene.
Police said the child’s death was not being treated as suspicious. Detectives will prepare a report for the coroner.
