A family and entire neighbourhood were in mourning Tuesday after an early morning fire killed two little girls sleeping inside a home in Surrey, B.C.
RCMP say nine people were inside when the blaze broke out in a home in the north end of the city.
Neighbours described a horrifying scene at the fire: two frantic parents on the roof, and their little girls still inside the burning home.
"They started screaming very loudly. They started saying, 'Our kids are trapped inside,' and all the neighbours went and helped out -- that's all we know. The house was all on fire. We were very scared and terrified," neighbour Bal Punni told CTV News.
One neighbour grabbed his ladder to help the parents down from the roof, while others did their best to rescue the trapped children.
Despite the "heroic" efforts of neighbours to get everyone out safely, two young sisters perished. Neighbours say the girls were three-year-old Priya and her five-year-old sister Sajal.
Const. Peter Neily said the youngsters could not be revived at the scene.
"Anytime that anyone succumbs to injuries suffered in a house fire, it's tragic, but with two children being involved here and a family being so adversely affected, it is tragic," Neily said.
When firefighters arrived on scene, they were pushed back by the searing heat. One firefighter suffered burns to 30-per-cent of his body.
He was one of six people taken to hospital injuries. Five of those people have now been released.
RCMP say it is too early to know what caused the fire, but the blaze left two families homeless. The young girls' family lived on the upper floor, while another family was in a separate suite below.
Relatives grief-stricken
Relatives of Sajal and Priya were wracked with grief on Tuesday, unable to grasp the deaths of the two girls killed while they slept in their room.
Family member Rajwinder Saroya said the girls' parents are devastated.
"Their mother is not able to talk a single word. She is just crying. She is saying she has no life to live now. She doesn't want to live anymore. Dad is crying, saying ‘Can I get one more chance to grab my daughters from inside,'" Saroya said.
According to neighbours, Sajal attended a nearby school. She was in grade one, but had already overcome significant challenges, recovering from a serious illness at a young age.
Now relatives wonder how the girls' parents will manage without them.
"They have a house burnt, kids gone. What's their life?" Saroya asked.
With reports from CTV British Columbia's Brent Shearer and Michele Brunoro
