A mother and her two daughters, aged 9 and 16, died this Monday morning in the fire in their house in Wingles, in the north of Lens (Pas-de-Calais). Two young boys escaped the flames. Here is what we know about this tragedy which the judicial police are studying as part of an investigation opened for “destruction by fire leading to death”.
What happened
Snow and mist enveloped Wingles this Monday when, shortly before 4 a.m., the firefighters were alerted: a pretty brick pavilion on rue du Pronet was in flames. “I opened my shutters and I saw all the flashing lights,” a neighbor told Horizon radio. I thought it was my garage that was burning down at the time. And no… I would have preferred! » On social networks, local residents report being woken up by the light of the flashing lights and explain that the entire neighborhood had been plunged into darkness by a power cut.
On site, with the neighbors gathered, the firefighters found two boys, aged 11 and 12, safe. But in the house where flames are escaping from the roof, their mother and their two sisters remain. The father of this family of six had been at work in the Lille area, about thirty kilometers away, for several hours.
In the moments that followed, emergency services discovered the bodies of the victims in the rubble of the completely destroyed house: a 37-year-old mother and her daughters, aged 9 and 16. The origins of the fire are still unknown.
The two sons saved by the neighbors
According to Sébastien Messent, mayor of Wingles, interviewed by Voix du Nord, it was a neighbor and his son who helped save the family’s two boys. “A neighbor told me that he had taken the two boys out (…) He was alerted by an explosion. He took a ladder to get them out through a first floor window.”
“He realized that the upstairs of the house next door was burning. He saw the children at the window, continues the councilor to Horizon radio. He rushed to take a ladder and save these two children (…) He saved their lives.” Both boys were hospitalized
Solidarity already in place
A municipal room was opened so that local residents evacuated by emergency services could take shelter and a listening cell was set up in a school in the town. Already, on social networks, Internet users were organizing to find out what clothing or food assistance to provide to the father and his two rescued sons.
“My most sincere thoughts go to the relatives and friends of the victims in these difficult times,” Ludovic Gambiez, mayor of Vendin-le-Vieil, a neighboring town to Wingles, wrote on Facebook. I would like to send my deepest condolences to the family affected by this tragedy. Please know that I share your pain and that I am with you wholeheartedly. »
