Triple Tragedy in Slateford

Having got home yesterday evening to the news that three school children had apparently died in a gas blast in a flat in Edinburgh, it appears that there are suspicious circumstances around their young deaths.

Although there was a fire at the flat on Slateford Road there was no problem identified with the gas supply to the flat. A woman, believed to be the children's mother jumped from the balcony yesterday afternoon.

Moe Harbi, a chemical engineering student, who lives in the block said he smelt gas at about 1am but after checking his kitchen and oven went back to sleep. Omar Barisah said that the explosion was like a gun going off.

"It felt like a big bang - it was absolutely frightening and I had to take my little brother, and his friend who was sleeping and woke up because of the noise, and we ran out of the house.

"We saw a woman lying on the ground. She was covered by a sheet, then she was taken in an ambulance and we were asked to move to a safer area."

This is a tragedy for those concerned as three young lives have been snuffed out during their school holidays.