A 32-year-old woman, her two-year-old twins and her six-year-old daughter died after a fire ravaged their apartment in the western suburbs of Bologna (northern Italy) on the night of Thursday to Friday.
Stefania Alexandra Nistor, 32, of Romanian origin, died while being transported to hospital, while the twins, a boy and a girl, as well as the girl, died on the spot in their apartment on the 4th floor of a small building, according to local media.
The father, absent during the tragedy, was hospitalized in a state of shock according to the Italian press.
The firefighters, alerted by the neighbor who lives above the family, intervened a little before 1 a.m. and discovered the apartment already completely filled with smoke, probably the cause of the children's deaths.
“Stefania was a very nice girl.
She was separated from her husband but they had a beautiful relationship, the children were joyful and happy,” a neighbor told the media Il Resto del Carlino.
A short circuit could be the cause
“The fire was probably caused by a short circuit caused by a heater (
a small space heater
),” said a police official, Pierluigi Pinto, quoted by the newspaper Il Corriere della Sera.
The origin of the disaster seems “completely accidental” and the apartment has been sealed pending assessments, he said.
Six elderly Italian people died in a fire in their retirement home in Milan in July 2023. Here too, firefighters suspected a short circuit.
The Minister of the Interior “saddened”
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said in a statement that he was “deeply saddened by the death of this woman and her three children.”
Sound deeply added to the damage of a child and a child who has caused a fire if it has been verified in an apartment in Bologna.
First of all, my family lives and my cordoglio, and rings of the operators of the Vigili of the…
— Matteo Piantedosi (@Piantedosim) March 15, 2024
The mayor of the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region, Matteo Lepore, expressed in the media “the deep pain of the city for this terrible tragedy”.