Girls visited Santa just days before Christmas Day blaze
Like all children, Zsara, 7, and Nadia, 2, were looking forward to opening their presents on Thursday morning.
But they died alongside their mother Sharon Whelan, 28, after fire broke out in their two-storey farmhouse in an isolated rural area near the village of Windgap in Co Kilkenny on Christmas morning.
While investigations are ongoing, gardaí believe the fire started accidentally.
Postmortems were carried out on the remains yesterday. It is believed they died from smoke inhalation.
It is understood the bodies were recovered from ground floor bedrooms where the mother and her children had been sleeping.
They may have been overcome by carbon monoxide poisoning while they slept.
The family had been living at the farmhouse they rented at Seskin, just outside Windgap, for about two years. They lived in the downstairs part of the house and there were no other occupants in the house at the time of the fire.
It is understood neighbours noticed flames coming from the house just before 8am on Christmas morning and rushed down a narrow country lane to help, but were unable to gain access to the building.
The emergency services were alerted and two units of Kilkenny and Callan fire brigade rushed to the scene.
They got to the house quickly, but the structure was already well ablaze.
The fire was finally brought under control shortly before 10am.
Ms Whelan’s body and those of her two daughters were recovered a short time later.
Local councillor Matt Doran said the entire community is in deep shock. “This is a terrible tragedy. I was at 11am Christmas Mass and everyone in the town was totally numbed with shock,” he said. “Sharon comes from a family who have been in the area for a very long time and most people would know her.
“This is a very small community and it has been devastated by this tragedy.”
Ms Whelan’s parents Christie and Nancy Whelan live less than a mile from where their daughter and grandchildren lived.
They were being comforted by family and friends last night.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) has also made counselling services available to anyone affected by the tragedy. The psychology department of the HSE’s Carlow/Kilkenny Local Health Office is available to offer support and counselling, a HSE spokesperson said.
People should contact St Luke’s General Hospital on 056 7785000 for details.
Meanwhile, members of the Garda Technical Bureau carried out a series of preliminary forensic exam-inations of the house yesterday.
But it was deemed too dangerous to enter the building to allow for more detailed examinations.
Gardaí said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire, but it is understood they are treating it as an accident.
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