Boys killed in blaze were brothers

The two four-year-old boys who died in a house fire in Northern Ireland today were brothers, police said.

Robert and Gareth Barkley were carried by firefighters from a burning room in their home on Sydney Street West, off Belfast’s Shankill Road, but were pronounced dead later in hospital.

Robert was almost five and Gareth had just turned four. Their parents and a younger brother and sister were treated for minor injuries.

Forensic tests later established that the blaze was not malicious, an RUC spokesman said.

The alarm was raised at about 7am and two passers-by and neighbours were involved in a failed rescue attempt.

One neighbour said: "It was terrible. All I heard was the mother squealing.

"I looked out and the whole street was in panic. There were police, fire engines and people everywhere."

Billy Jellie of the Northern Ireland Fire Service said the blaze was concentrated in the upstairs front bedroom where the two boys were found, although it also damaged the landing of the three-bedroom terraced house.

"It was quite a harrowing experience for the crews dealing with it," said Mr Jellie, the assistant divisional officer based at Westland Road in the city.