The mother of the children battling for their lives in critical care after a horrifying home fire has been named as an award-winning pharmacist.
Hayley Tomkins was found on Monday at 9 p.m. inside her burning Mooroolbark house in east Melbourne. On Tuesday, police said she had been stabbed in the stomach.
Her eight-year-old daughter and son, both of whom were unconscious and suffering from acute smoke inhalation, were also discovered by emergency personnel.
The Melbourne mother discovered dead in a home fire in Mooroolbark on Monday has been named as pharmacist Hayley Tomkins (shown accepting an award for her work at Eastern Health last year).
Ms. Tomkins unfortunately passed away at the site despite paramedics’ best efforts to save her.
The honored mother received an award last year for her work as a pharmacist at Eastern Health.
Both kids are still in critical but stable condition after being evacuated from the fire site to the intensive care section of the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Since the terrible fire, their father Andrew Marshall, a nearby tennis coach at the Pro Touch Tennis Academy, has been at their side.
It is believed that Mr. Marshall was outside instructing tennis students when the fire broke out.
When he arrived home, emergency personnel were swarming around his house, attempting to save his family from the blazing two-story house.
Emergency services arrived at the home around 9pm on Monday night and found ms Tomkins and her two children inside (pictured, emergency crews at the scene of the fire)
Ms Tomkins (above) was found with stab wounds to her stomach and was treated at the scene but tragically died while her two unconscious children were rushed to hospital for smoke inhalation
‘He’s incredibly distraught,’ a neighbour told Nine News.
‘He had to run up the hill, there were just trucks down the street and around the corner.’
Witnesses said the two children were carried from the home covered in blankets and initially treated on the home’s front lawn as their devastated father watched on.
Alisha O’Brien, who was staying at a friend’s home on the street, said she saw Mr Marshall scream as his children were pulled from the home, believing they were dead.
‘They carried out three bodies and they were completely lifeless,’ she told the Herald Sun.
‘When he saw them, he was screaming “oh no!”.
‘He could not be consoled in any way, he was a complete mess, in total shock and grief.’
Husband and father Andrew Marshall (above) was reportedly away from the home at the time of the fire and returned to find his house swarmed by emergency services trying to rescue his family
Police stated they are not currently seeking for anybody despite the fact that they are still looking into the incident (pictured, investigators at the scene of the fire on Tuesday)
Locals have paid their condolences to the mother and her family by visiting the residence and leaving flowers in the driveway.
Police are still looking into the event, but they are not currently searching for anybody.
Police are requesting that anybody with knowledge about the fire get in touch with them.