LAST UPDATE | 10 Sep 2022

POST-MORTEMS HAVE BEEN carried out on a young boy and girl who died in a car fire in Co Westmeath yesterday afternoon.

The car was discovered on a rural road at Lackan shortly after 4pm in the Multyfarnham area, where gardaí and emergency services attended the scene.

Gardaí are treating the deaths as suspicious.

They said they are “continuing to investigate all of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of a two-year-old infant boy and five-year-old girl”.

State Pathologist Dr Sally Anne Collis was at the scene last night and conducted post-mortem examinations on the children today.

The results of the post-mortem examinations are not being released for operational reasons, a Garda spokesman said.

He said: “A woman in her 40s continues to be treated for serious, but non-life threatening, injuries at a Dublin Hospital.

“An Garda Síochána continue to appeal to any person with any information in relation to this fatal incident to contact them.

“The Incident room at Mullingar Garda Station can be contacted on 044 9384000, or contact the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.”

A Garda family liaison officer continues to keep the family of the children updated.

The infant boy was removed to the Midlands Regional Hospital in Mullingar, where he was subsequently pronounced dead.

The remains of an older girl were also discovered at the scene and brought to the Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore.

A woman was taken by air ambulance to a Dublin hospital for treatment for burn injuries.

The car was removed and gardaí said it is continuing to be forensically examined today.

A Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) has been appointed to lead the investigation.

Additional reporting by Eoghan Dalton