Critical Auckland house fire victim Kailesh Thanabalasingham will miss family's funeral

Kailesh Thanabalasingham is still heavily sedated in hospital. Photo/supplied

The Auckland man who lost three family members in a horrific house fire last month is still critically injured and will not be able to farewell his loved ones at their funeral this week.

Refugee Council of New Zealand secretary Kailesh Thanabalasingham, 47, escaped the blaze in Flat Bush on December 22 but was severely burnt. The fire claimed the lives of his 5-year-old son, 39-year-old wife and 66-year-old mother-in-law.

"He's still in a critical condition," family spokeswoman Deborah Manning said.

"He's heavily sedated, he's not awake."

Manning said there was no way of knowing if Kailesh knew his family members had died.

They will be farewelled in a joint service at the Manukau Memorial Gardens on Thursday. The service will be open to the public.

Kailesh's 11-year-old daughter and 69-year-old father-in-law survived the fire.

"This is just an extremely difficult time for the family," Manning said.

"They would just like to thank again everybody for their support."

A Givealittle page has been set up for Kailesh by the Refugee Council and has so far raised $76,000.

An update on the page mentioned the funeral would be held this week.

"It seems so sad that he'll be unable to say goodbye to them," the post said.