The mother of the two children killed in a house fire in Nottingham has died in hospital, two days after the blaze.
Nottinghamshire police said they had launched a triple murder investigation after Fatoumatta Hydara, 28, died on Tuesday morning.
She was taken to Queen’s medical centre after the fire on Sunday, along with her two daughters, one-year-old Naeemah Drammeh and three-year-old Fatimah Drammeh, who were pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
A murder inquiry was launched after a joint fire and police investigation concluded the fire was started deliberately.
A 31-year-old man from Clifton, who was arrested on Sunday night, remains in custody. Police have been given an additional 36 hours to interview him.
DCI Mark Sinski, who is leading the investigation, said: “We are dealing with one of the most horrendous crimes – the death of two young children and their mother.
“This is a deeply upsetting tragedy and I can only imagine the family’s pain. They include the woman’s husband and the father of the two children, who was not in the UK at the time of the fire.”
The children’s father and Hydara’s husband, Aboubacarr Drammeh, 40, visited the scene of the fire on Monday, before his wife died, after arriving in the UK from the US.
He told reporters: “I am just grieving. I have just flown in from America. I have come straight here from the airport and now I am going to the hospital to see my wife.
“I don’t know what has happened here. I need to try to understand what. This is just so upsetting. I haven’t started to come to terms with what has happened.”
DCI Sinski said the family were being supported by specially trained officers. “This has been an extremely traumatic event for them, and I’d like to reassure them we’re doing everything we possibly can to bring them the justice they deserve,” he added.
Specialist officers continued to examine the scene, and a large team of detectives were working to investigate the circumstances around the incident, police said.
“The local community has been shocked and deeply saddened by the events of the past two days and I want to thank those living in the area for the patience and understanding while we gather evidence at the scene.”
The fire ripped through a first floor flat in a two-storey residential building in Clifton, a village on the outskirts of Nottingham, home to an estate that was once the largest council estate in Europe.
The family were thought to have lived in the flat for about five years.
Emergency services were called in the early hours of Sunday, and managed to extinguish the fire at 4am.
Police said they would like to speak to anyone who was in or around Fairisle Close in Clifton between midnight and 4.30am on Sunday.
Anyone with information is asked to call 101 and ask for Nottinghamshire police quoting incident 110 of 20 November 2022, or to contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
