A man and three children have been killed in a horror house fire in central Queensland, just three weeks after a mum and two kids died in another deadly blaze 400km away.
Emergency crews were called to a duplex engulfed in flames in Opal Street in Emerald at 6.45am on Thursday.
A Queensland Fire Department spokesman told Daily Mail that it took crews more than two hours to extinguish the blaze, where the bodies of a man and three children were found inside.
Multiple emergency units remain at the property.
A crime scene has been declared, as investigators launch a probe into the cause of blaze.
‘There is no further information at this time,’ a police statement read.
Anyone with information about the blaze is urged to call Crime Stoppers.
‘On behalf of everyone, I really want to express my deepest, deepest sympathies to the family, but also the neighbours and emergency services involved,’ Queensland Premier David Crisafulli told reporters.
Four people have been killed in a horror house fire in Opal Street, Emerald
The blaze in Emerald is the second deadly house fire within three weeks in Central Queensland
‘This is an incredible tragedy, an incredible tragedy, and it’s the kind of event that rocks all communities, but particularly smaller communities.
‘The connections of school and sport and community groups and emergency services personnel … it will ripple right throughout that community.’
The latest tragedy in the region comes just three weeks after Jordana Johnson, 36, her son Jordan Norris, 13, and his friend Chazz Mather, 12, died in house fire in Toolooa near Gladstone on October 15.
Contessa Leigh Marie Richardson, 37, was later charged with three counts of murder, and two counts of arson.
A combined funeral for Ms Johnson and the two boys will be held next week.
