SYDNEY, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- An Australian woman has been charged over a house fire that killed two children and hospitalized a third in Melbourne's northwest suburbs in September 2024.
Police in the state of Victoria said on Tuesday night that the 26-year-old woman was arrested on Tuesday and charged with two counts of negligent manslaughter and one count of negligently causing serious injury.
It comes over one year after the fire broke out at a house in Sydenham, 22 km northwest of central Melbourne, on the night of Sept. 8, 2024.
Three children were pulled unconscious from the fire and taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Two girls, aged 1 and 5, died three days later while a three-year-old boy was discharged after spending 10 days in hospital.
Around 30 firefighters as well as the aerial unit were deployed to the fire, which took several hours to be extinguished.
Investigators initially said that the fire began at the rear of the property, but that the children were found in a different area of the house.
Police said at the time that they were investigating whether anyone else was inside the home at the time of, or just prior to, the fire.
A conviction for negligent manslaughter in Victoria carries a maximum sentence of 20 years' imprisonment. ■
