SYDNEY, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Two people have died in a fire that destroyed a home in the Australian state of Queensland on Tuesday afternoon.
A police statement said that emergency services were called to reports of a home fully engulfed in flames in the suburb of Kingston, 22 km south of central Brisbane, around 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
The fire was extinguished and two people, a man and a woman, were located deceased inside.
Four other people were able to evacuate and were not physically injured.
The deceased were on Wednesday identified by local media as a 62-year-old woman who lived at the property and a 73-year-old man who was a long-time friend.
The 62-year-old woman's husband and two children were among those who managed to escape.
The fire triggered an emergency warning for neighboring properties, with police implementing an exclusion zone while crews worked for an hour to bring it under control.
Queensland Police Inspector Jason Barrowcliffe told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that large plumes of smoke could be seen from up to 8 km away.
Police officers established a crime scene at the home and have commenced an investigation into the cause of the fire. ■
