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Just four of the six people who tried to escape a devastating fire south of Brisbane managed to get out, leaving a family to mourn the loss of a mother and a friend who perished inside.
Leanne Laver, 63, and 73-year-old Phillip Gordon were trapped inside the timber house in Kingston when it burst into flames at about 3pm Tuesday.
Police declared an exclusion zone in the Logan suburb while seven crews of firefighters doused the flames, which had quickly taken over the entire building.
Leanne’s husband Sean Laver, who goes by Ari, escaped unharmed, along with the couples’ daughter, Chloe, their son Jay, and housemate Lucas Kirby.
Neighbours described hearing screams and yells of panic as flames took hold, destroying the house and burning five vehicles parked outside.
Laver had lived in the house for 35 years, and the family told reporters at the scene they had done everything they could to save the now deceased pair.
Sean Laver told Today on Wednesday morning that he and his wife had been together for 40 years, describing her as “the most faithful, loving and selfless person”.
He said he believed an electrical fault on the ground floor sparked the blaze, and the house went up in about three minutes.
“I’m not feeling anything except, I should have died with my wife, and what am I going to do for my kids? That’s all that’s going through my head,” he said.
“My wife didn’t deserve that, she’d been battling stage four lymphoma, we’d just had good reports, we thought we were on the right route.”
He said he thought Gordon may have gone back to try and save the family’s pet cats.
Police were still investigating the cause of the blaze on Wednesday morning, and a report will be compiled for the coroner.
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