Arabic version: الشرطة تفحص الأدلة بعد حريق مميت في شقة ببوديريم

According to ABC News, police are testing evidence to determine the cause of a fire that destroyed a unit in Buderim on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and later claimed the life of 21-year-old Isabella Nicholls.

Ms Nicholls, from Kallangur, suffered extensive burns after the blaze tore through the King Street unit on Sunday evening. The unit was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived at about 7:30pm, and five crews took more than an hour to extinguish the flames. She was able to escape the home and was taken to Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in a critical condition, where she died early on Monday morning.

Investigating officers examined the gutted unit after it was declared a crime scene. Police closed the crime scene on Monday night and shifted their focus to evidence collected at the site. They said there were no persons of interest and that witnesses had been cooperative. A report is being prepared for the coroner as investigations continue.

The Department of Housing said the unit’s smoke alarm had been tested in February during an inspection. Ms Nicholls’s family said she had been visiting her boyfriend’s family at the unit when the fire occurred.

Her cousin, Stephanie Weatherall, speaking for the family, described Ms Nicholls as a devoted mother to her two-year-old son, Elijah, and said relatives were grieving an “irreplaceable loss”. The family is raising money for her funeral and to support her son. Ms Weatherall said Ms Nicholls was a much-loved daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, cousin and friend.