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Three generations die as fire collapses house

Anna Whitney
Tuesday 27 November 2001 01:00 GMT
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Three generations of a family died in a fire at their home in South Wales yesterday. Grandmother Larrine Balbini, a cleaner in her mid-40s, daughter Lana, 22, and grandchildren, Stewart, three, and year-old Shane, were in Mrs Balbini's house in the village of Tumble, near Llanelli.

Neighbours were woken by screams in the early morning, moments before the roof collapsed. Lana Balbini lived a few doors along the road but had decided to sleep at her mother's with the children on Sunday night. Lana's brothers, Lyndon and Leighton, escaped and are in hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.

"There was an almighty explosion like a bomb had gone off," said a neighbour, Margaret Davies, 63.A police spokesman said they were investigating several possible causes, including someone smoking in bed.

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