NEWS
Lalor Park house fire: Heartbreaking words of 11-year-old boy after his father allegedly torched home killing three of his siblings – as neighbour’s heroic act is revealed and harrowing sight is spotted in front yard
An American teenager who disappeared after walking off a cruise ship after its stop at a German port has been found.
Aydin Brown had been on the Caribbean Princess cruise ship with his grandmother, but left after it docked at Rostock-Warnemünde.
Police in Germany had been looking for the 14-year-old since Thursday morning when he vanished.
wo boys, aged three and six, were taken to Westmead Hospital in a critical condition, but they died a short time later.
Fire and Rescue NSW extinguished the fire before the body of a third child, believed to be a 10-month-old girl, was found.
Neighbour Jarrod Hawkins has been hailed as a hero after rushing to the burning home minutes after it was engulfed in flames and helping save four children inside.
He said the eldest surviving child said his father ‘tried to kill me’ after the blaze.
Details of Mr Hawkins’ heroism emerged as a heartbreaking sight was spotted at the front of the house: a lone baby walker seen on the grass with colourful toys in stark contrast to the burnt home.
Without hesitation, Mr Hawkins ran into the house and helped pull a nine-year-old girl and three boys aged four, seven and 11, to safety.
‘I heard some stuff outside at 1am but by the time I came outside emergency was here – I couldn’t do anything,’ Mr Hawkins told Daily Mail Australia on Sunday.
The young father said his daughter was friends with the nine-year-old girl and added that one of the boys had autism.
He described the children as ‘unreal’ and said Ms Gammage and Heasman appeared to be happy.
His partner told Daily Mail Australia she was proud of him for running to the home and trying to help.
‘He did what anyone would do. He heard the sirens and he ran over,’ she said.
‘I’m so proud of him. It’s what you’d hope someone would do for your kids. I don’t know what he heard when he got to the house and I can’t imagine.’
Another neighbour, Damien Dubois, said all three rooms at the front of the house were alight, with the surviving children placed on the other side of the road.
‘They had seven kids. I had the four kids and they were cold so we picked them up and took them into the back room,’ Mr Dubois said.
‘I was trying to console them. The two younger kids weren’t saying anything so I picked them up and took them out of the way of all this trauma.’