QLD:Bodies removed from Brisbane house

AAP General News (Australia)
08-24-2011
QLD:Bodies removed from Brisbane house

By Tony Bartlett

BRISBANE, Aug 24 AAP - The bodies of two children have been removed from the blackened
shell of a house where 11 people perished south of Brisbane.

The van carrying the bodies stopped briefly in the middle of the street and the back
doors were open to allow immediate family to offer a brief prayer and farewell hymn.

Hundreds of people from the community lined the street as the van was driven away.

Another two bodies will be removed from the house within the next hour.

Police Superintendent Noel Powers told reporters earlier on Wednesday the bodies were
dispersed throughout the house.

"While there are a number of bodies in one or two locations the majority are dispersed
throughout the house," Supt Powers said.

"That's what makes it particularly difficult.

"We've got to find our way through the rubble, make sure it's safe, and then locate
the people as well."

The blaze began underneath the building but no cause has been determined.

Supt Powers said large gas bottles that were venting when the first crews arrived didn't
cause the blaze, but caught fire as a result of the heat from the inferno.

He said the scene facing investigators was a difficult one.

"It's hard to say what their last movements were or what they were attempting to do,"

Supt Powers said.

"It's a particularly traumatising event, a very tragic event that is unfolding.

"The position of the bodies, where they were found and how they were found, will dictate
what was going on in those last few, horrible moments."

AAP bart/peb/de

KEYWORD: FIRE BODIES UPDATE

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