Res­i­dents of Robin­son Lane, Laven­tille, tried in vain to save 84-year-old Elise Mor­ris from a dev­as­tat­ing house fire that en­gulfed her home Thurs­day night. Mor­ris, who used a wheel­chair, was trapped on the top floor when flames erupt­ed around 8.26 pm, ac­cord­ing to po­lice re­ports.

Two chil­dren, aged three and ten, who were al­so at home, man­aged to es­cape un­harmed. Neigh­bours quick­ly formed a buck­et brigade, but the in­ten­si­ty of the blaze made it im­pos­si­ble to reach Mor­ris. Fire­fight­ers from the Mor­vant and Wright­son Road sta­tions even­tu­al­ly ex­tin­guished the fire, but her body and a burnt wheel­chair were found on the ground floor, while the sec­ond-storey floor was com­plete­ly de­stroyed. Fire of­fi­cials not­ed the home had no elec­tric­i­ty and re­lied on can­dles for light­ing.

Sources said Mor­ris’ niece, who cared for her and the chil­dren, had briefly left the house to fetch items from a near­by shop. She re­turned to find the build­ing con­sumed by flames.