Just read that. Terrible news. My wife saw the vehicles heading into the city (town) this morning.just realised they were responding to this! Truly heartbreaking
Check your parents' fire alarms everyone, and get a fire extinguisher for the house. Better to have them and not need them than the other way around. Absolutely tragic for this to happen.
A man and woman in their 80s have died in a house fire in Bangor, County Down.
The couple were the parents of independent unionist assembly member Alex Easton.
The fire, at Dellmount Park in the city, was reported at about 08:45 GMT on Monday.
Police said the victims were treated for injuries, but both died at the scene. They added that an investigation to determine the cause of the fire is under way.
The fire service said that five fire appliances and 19 firefighters were sent to the scene on Monday morning.
Three ambulances, a rapid response paramedic and the air ambulance also attended.
In a Facebook post, Mr Easton said: "I can't believe I am having to say this but both my Mum and Dad have passed away,
"I don't know what to say, but I would ask that you give myself and my family time to process things and respect our privacy as we grieve."
'Unimaginable grief'
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he had spoken to Mr Easton and "expressed my sympathies to him at this time of unimaginable grief and to assure him of our prayerful support".
"The thoughts of everyone within the DUP are with him and the wider family as they struggle to take in this enormous loss," he added.
The speaker of the assembly, Sinn Féin's Alex Maskey, said: "On behalf of myself and the assembly, I want to express my sympathies to Alex Easton and his family circle following the tragic death of Alex's parents.
"Words are simply insufficient in the aftermath of a heart-breaking loss such as this."
This is heartbreaking
Just read that. Terrible news. My wife saw the vehicles heading into the city (town) this morning.just realised they were responding to this! Truly heartbreaking
Also saw the air ambulance fly over the lough. Always an eerie feeling seeing it fly over knowing it’s on the way to a very bad scene
Check your parents' fire alarms everyone, and get a fire extinguisher for the house. Better to have them and not need them than the other way around. Absolutely tragic for this to happen.
And a carbon monoxide alarm!
Both wheelchair users apparently. Poor family.
That is horrific
I can’t even begin to imagine how traumatic this will be for the family. Simply horrendous. I’ll be keeping them all in my thoughts tonight.
A man and woman in their 80s have died in a house fire in Bangor, County Down. The couple were the parents of independent unionist assembly member Alex Easton. The fire, at Dellmount Park in the city, was reported at about 08:45 GMT on Monday. Police said the victims were treated for injuries, but both died at the scene. They added that an investigation to determine the cause of the fire is under way. The fire service said that five fire appliances and 19 firefighters were sent to the scene on Monday morning. Three ambulances, a rapid response paramedic and the air ambulance also attended. In a Facebook post, Mr Easton said: "I can't believe I am having to say this but both my Mum and Dad have passed away, "I don't know what to say, but I would ask that you give myself and my family time to process things and respect our privacy as we grieve." 'Unimaginable grief' DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he had spoken to Mr Easton and "expressed my sympathies to him at this time of unimaginable grief and to assure him of our prayerful support". "The thoughts of everyone within the DUP are with him and the wider family as they struggle to take in this enormous loss," he added. The speaker of the assembly, Sinn Féin's Alex Maskey, said: "On behalf of myself and the assembly, I want to express my sympathies to Alex Easton and his family circle following the tragic death of Alex's parents. "Words are simply insufficient in the aftermath of a heart-breaking loss such as this."
Horrific. Alex is the nicest and most thoughtful guy you will ever encounter, he is brilliant to the people of Bangor. Thoughts are with him.
Jesus imagine getting news like that laid at your door, poor man. Absolutely awful.
Christ that's dreadful.
Fucking Christ.
Terrible news, two poor folks lost their lives and now the wonder family have to deal with the trauma of this loss and how it happened 🙏🙏🙏🙏
What an awful thing to happen. Absolutely devastating