By ABC NEWS
A two-year-old boy has died on his birthday in a house fire at Beenleigh, south of Brisbane.
Firefighters were called to a home in Kokoda Street just before 3:00pm (AEST).
They arrived to find the weatherboard house well alight.
The roof collapsed as emergency crews worked to extinguish the blaze.
A mother and five of her children were inside the home.
She managed to escape with four of them, aged between one and five.
But Senior Sergeant John Hamrey said she could not save a fifth child.
“The son, the two-year-old, was in the back of the house and she couldn’t get to him,” he said.
The children’s father had gone to pick up the family’s eldest child — a six–year-old — from school.
He had to be restrained by police when he tried to enter the burning house after returning home.
It is not yet known how the fire started and scientific officers are at the scene.
This post originally appeared on ABC Online.
Read more: Friday’s news in under five minutes.
