Fire in the US claims the lives of three Albanian children, uncle speaks: “I didn’t see them when they were born; now I will escort them to their graves

The Albanian Manati family, originally from Lushnja, has been struck by tragedy in Jacksonville, Florida. Three children died on the morning of August 26 after the house where they lived caught fire.

The victims included 11-year-old twins and a 2-year-old child. The parents and the family’s two other children—a 2-month-old baby and a 9-year-old—managed to escape the flames, but were taken to hospital in critical condition.

The children’s maternal uncle said he received news of the tragedy from his younger uncle.

During an interview on the program “Me Zemër të Hapur,” he spoke about the pain caused by the tragic news, as well as the fact that emigration had prevented him from seeing his nephews for years.

He said he was waiting to travel to the United States, stressing that his nephews had reached the age of 11 without him seeing them even at the moment they were born, because emigration had kept them apart. Now, he said, he was going to bury them.

According to the uncle’s account, the suspicion is that the fire may have been caused by a toy bought for the children that had been left charging overnight.

He said the toy’s battery exploded while it was charging overnight, and that everything happened as a result.

The uncle also said that he had not yet managed to communicate with his sister, the children’s mother, because of the severe psychological condition she has been in since the tragedy.

According to him, both his sister and the children are traumatized. He added that she cannot cope with nightfall and the moment darkness sets in.