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Updated 2:30pm 9/2/17
TRIBUTES HAVE BEEN paid to the Cork couple who, along with a close relative, died following a house fire in the UK on Monday.
Named locally as Joe and Anne Whelan, it is believed the couple were visiting Joe’s brother Jim who lived in Hornchurch, east of London.
Jim is said to have been in ill health in recent months, and Joe and Anne had come to help take care of him.
The brothers were originally from Dublin, but Joe and Anne had been living in Cobh, Co Cork before going to stay with Jim, who had lived around London for much of his adult life.
A neighbour of Jim told the Evening Standard that the news was heartbreaking for the whole community.
They said: “He was a very close neighbour, this fire has broken the entire street.
His family came over to help him and they perished too – it’s just awful.
Another neighbour, Valerie Newman, said: “Jim was lovely, dead chatty and the fittest man for his age.”
Essex Live reports that firefighters were called to the ground floor fire at the house on Laburnum Avenue in the town at about 4am on Monday morning.
It’s understood that Anne died at the scene, while the two men who were removed to hospital later died from their injuries. She was aged 68, while Joe and Jim were aged 74 and 76, respectively.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan expressed his “deepest sympathies” to the families involved.
“I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the three people who died following a house fire in Hornchurch in Essex, on Monday,” Flanagan said in a statement yesterday evening.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is providing consular assistance to those families at present.
The cause of the fire is not yet known. It was brought under control by the fire services in attendance, four fire engines and 21 firefighters, before 6am.
“My thoughts and those of everyone at the brigade are with the friends and family of the three people who have died following the tragic fire in Hornchurch on Monday morning,” London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said in a statement.
Firefighters worked extremely hard and did all they could in difficult conditions.
A Metropolitan Police investigation was launched into the cause of the fire and concluded that no suspicious circumstances were present.
“We are very sad that the community has lost three of its members in this very tragic incident,” said Chief Superintendent Sean Wilson of Havering borough police.
This appears to be through accidental circumstances. Our prayers and condolences go out to the families of those involved.
With reporting from Sean Murray
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So to sum it up: Yay, we’re shite at our jobs. But not as shite as last year… #progress
If they kept their hands out of peoples luggage I’d be happier, twice had locks broken and items stolen including cash the last time when I forgot to move it to carry on bag. Zero come back also as they declare to be non-liable for any items which go missing while in their custody.
Why on earth would you put cash or valuables in checked luggage? You’re only asking for trouble! It is also a known fact that the TSA in United States will cut your bag open if its locked
Why are these figures counted as “mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers” rather than, let’s say, “mishandled bags per 1,000 pieces of luggage“?
Great spot there Dennis. Data manipulation at it’s best.
Thank god for that. Had my bags mishandled in Amsterdam a few years back.
How about they tackle the mishandling of claims for mishandled bagged procedure… It’s a nightmare still waiting on a cheque for the tour of the globe my bag took for Thanksgiving 2012…
Went to Paris to propose to my now wife, ring went to Barcelona with my bag. Couldn’t say anything. Longest 3 days of my life. Thankfully it all worked out. Staff at Charles de Gaulle were absolutely no help whatsoever though
Rookie error. Never check a ring in! What if tour bag had been lost for good or someone robbed it?
Was a very early flight and forgot to put it in the carry on. If it was robbed I could never tell her and just order another ring. That’s really where my head was during the episode.
Well it all worked out in the end. Nice name btw!
Back at ya brother!
There’s an episode of “Learn French By Podcast” about the staff at CdG being no help whatsoever. Seems to be a common theme emerging here.
While travelling to Brazil with TAP (Air Portugal) at the start of this year with my partner we had to make 2 connections in Europe, one in Frankfurt and the other in Lisbon, in Frankfurt our flight to Lisbon was delayed by over an hour due to technical issues. When we arrived to Lisbon we had to run to make our flight to Sao Paulo, our luggage never made it on the flight, in Sao Paulo we were treated very cold by TAP staff and told we were entitled to R$100 compensation (about €35) to buy clothes etc; which we had to argue for when we went to the relevant person. When our luggage arrived at my partner’s home in Brasilia a day later than expected we realised that 7 bottles of expensive perfumes had been stolen from my partner’s bag, not to mention a Barbie doll and a pair of new jeans. After many stressful attempts to contact TAP about receiving compensation they finally agreed to giving my partner a free return ticket to any city, they refuse to refund him the vale of the perfumes as we do not have proof of purchase, and they actually expect us to use their rude, unhelpful airline again.
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