'I will never forget screams' of Omagh fire family

The screams of a family burned to death in a house fire in the North echoed across the neighbourhood, a man who tried to rescue them said today.

Window-cleaner John Glinn, 21, was beaten back by fierce flames at the terraced house in Omagh, County Tyrone.

He recalled seeing the despairing faces of Arthur McElhill and his partner Lorraine McGovern at the window pleading for help before the blaze overcame them and their five children.

“The screaming was something I will never forget, it was as if the whole thing was amplified,” he said.

“You could hear every noise, it was like being in a cinema with surround sound; like being in a tunnel.”

Amid concerns that the fire may have been started deliberately the fire crew confirmed last night that they had found five people in the burned-out shell and another two were missing.

Detectives probing the cause have not ruled out a crime.

Mr Glinn said it had been a horrific experience.

“I could see the man just trying to get out, that was it.”

His brother Mark, 25, made it up a couple of rungs of a ladder to try and reach the first-floor bedroom before flames burst out of the building.“

Mr Glinn added: “Waiting for the fire brigade every minute seemed like an hour.”

The blaze was detected at around 4.45am yesterday at Lammy Crescent, a quiet residential housing area.

The children killed were Caroline, 14, Sean, 7, Bellina, 4, Clodagh, 1 and 10-month-old James.

The family moved to the house at least a decade ago.

Mr McElhill is from the nearby village of Ederney, Co Fermanagh, and his partner is from Co Cavan.

Steven Mullen, 21, a tiler who lives two doors away, denied any knowledge of a commotion between Mr McElhill and his partner before the fire started.

He recalled the victims shouting help and trying to break the window, and described the blaze as like a bonfire.