Woman dies in Co Cork house fire

A postmortem examination has been carried out on the body of a woman who died in a house hire in Co Cork early this morning.

The 36-year-old died when fire engulfed the upstairs front bedroom of the two storey semi-detached house at Pembroke Crescent in the Cork Harbour town shortly after 1am.

Neighbours raised the alarm and tried to rescue the woman but were beaten back by the blaze. Units of Cork City Fire Brigade and Cork County Fire Service from Carrigaline later located the woman's body in the upstairs bedroom.

Gardaí immediately cordoned off the scene and a technical team is carrying out a forensic examination to try and establish the cause of the fire, which badly damaged the upstairs of the house.

The body of the woman was removed to Cork University Hospital for a postmortem. Gardaí said the post-mortem, State Pathologist, carried out by State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy, was purely a precautionary measure at this stage of the investigation.

The woman - who was separated - lived with her three children, aged 12, 10 and nine. They were staying with their father last night when the fire broke out.

Locals in Pembroke housing estate this morning spoke of their shock at the tragedy, saying the woman was well known and well-liked and very involved in the local community, helping out regularly in a local youth club.

"It's terribly sad. You never expect it to happen in your own area and everyone would have known her," said one neighbour.