Six-year-old girl dies after candle sets fire to home without electricity

A six-year-old girl died Saturday after becoming trapped inside a makeshift home that caught fire in Berisso, near La Plata.

The fire began shortly before 9 p.m. in a wooden and corrugated-metal house on Calle 127, between streets 28 and 29, in the El Carmen neighborhood. The girl’s mother and another child escaped, but the six-year-old remained inside.

Neighbors called emergency services after seeing the flames. Police arrived and requested help from firefighters, who sent two units from the Berisso station. Rescuers entered the house while parts of it were still burning and found the girl in one of the rooms. A SAME doctor later confirmed her death.

Three other children suffered smoke inhalation and an adult man sustained burns to one arm. All were taken to hospital. Local reports said the man’s relationship to the girl had not been confirmed, although he could be her father.

The girl’s mother, identified in a police report as 25-year-old M.V.V., told investigators that the family had no electricity. She said they lit a candle on Saturday night, and it apparently fell and started the fire that consumed the home.

Firefighters, Civil Defense officers and police from Berisso’s Third Precinct worked at the scene. The La Plata prosecutor’s office is investigating the account and the circumstances of the child’s death.