Manisha, Mamata, and Tulsi from Waimate fire. Photo / Kurt Bayer
Manisha, Mamata, and Tulsi from Waimate fire. Photo / Kurt Bayer
The three sisters who escaped a house fire that killed their parents and younger brother yesterday have spoken of their horrifying ordeal for the first time.
Tej Kafle, 49, wife Tika, 38, and youngest of four children, 8-year-old Prem perished in a blaze that engulfed their five-bedroom flat above theirEverest Indian Restaurant in Waimate.
The Queen St fire in what was the old Savoy Tearoom and Bakery building broke out at around 7.40am.
Sisters Tulsi, 24, Manisha, 17, and Mamata, 11, who all sleep in the same room, woke to the fire and tried to rescue their parents and younger brother but were beaten back by smoke and flames.
Fire Service inspectors on the balcony of the Everest Indian Restaurant building in Waimate. Photo / Martin Hunter
"I was sitting in the bed... my sister woke up, opened the door and at that moment they were shouting out and telling, "Mum, mum," and I was wondering what happened," Manisha said.
"It was smoky. I couldn't see anything."
Tulsi managed to break a window after hitting it three or four times with her forearm.
They escaped through the smashed glass on to a balcony above shops below.
Manisha today told how she couldn't see anything inside the room.
"I wanted to save my parents," she said, and so she went back into the burning building to retrieve her cellphone.
She found her phone and came out of the building.
Bishnu Kafle (centre) is comforted by friends and family members outside Timaru Hospital. Kafle is the brother of the man and his family who died in a fatal fire. Photo / Martin Hunter
Manisha phoned her mother but got no answer.
She then phoned 111.
Manisha said she and her sisters were "yelling [for people] to help us".
"Unfortunately we couldn't save our parents and our little brother," Manisha said from a bed at her uncle Bishnu's home in Christchurch where they are recovering.
Tulsi said she first noticed there was a fire when a "strong wind" rushed through the door.
"I said, 'It is not earthquake, what's happening?'" Tulsi said.
She opened the door and said there was a "high wind" in the corridor.
"I called loudly my mum and dad and they didn't answer me. What to do? I hadn't any idea.
Young Prem was today remembered as a mischievous brother who was "a bit naughty" but "really cute" and "really lovely".
"I'm going to miss every moment with my brother," Tulsi said.
The parents shared a room with the youngest child in one side of the flat, and the girls, who have only been in New Zealand for two years, shared another room on the diametrically opposite side, they said today.
When Tulsi opened the bedroom door, she was met by "really strong fire".
She called for her parents, but "they didn't answer me, they didn't yell anything".
