IT COULD take months to find out how a father and five children died in a fatal blaze at a farmhouse close to the village of Llangammarch Wells on Monday, October 30.

Specialist officers from South Wales and Gwent Police Force’s have been brought in to help Dyfed-Powys Police with the investigation.

It is believed that a man named locally as David Cuthbertson and five young children aged between four and 11 years old were killed in the fire.

Another three children aged 13, 12 and 10 years old escaped the fire and are being cared for by relatives after being released from hospital.

Earlier today, (Tuesday, November 7) Dyfed-Powys said that are preparing the local community that the investigationprocess process could take months.

Senior Investigating Officer, Dyfed-Powys Police Detective Chief Inspector, Martin Slevin, explained:

“The nature of this fire was so intense, the scene presents significant difficulties in respect of the recovery of any remains, and assessments of the scene.

“This will take some considerable time.

“The investigation is ongoing and we continue to treat the cause of the fire as unexplained.

“Moving forward we will be assisted by a team of officers from South Wales Police and Gwent Police, led by Chief Superintendent. Tony Brown of South Wales Police.

“ The have specialist knowledge and skills in recovering remains under these circumstances, and disaster victim identification.

“Dyfed-Powys Police specialists will continue to lead the investigation in to the cause of this fire, working alongside Chief Supt. Brown and his team.”

South Wales Police Chief Supt, Tony Brown, explained: “My role in this investigation is to preserve the integrity of the evidence at the scene, all the while making sure the process is sympathetic, caring and we maintain respect for both the deceased and bereaved.”

“In the coming days and weeks experts are facing the task of carefully taking down the outer walls of the house - 260 tonnes of bricks and mortar - by hand.

“Once complete, we will section-off the inside of the house and begin the delicate search for those inside. There will be specialist scientists at the scene to look at what we find.”

Detective Chief Inspector, Martin Slevin, continued: “We want to get this absolutely right for the family and will do all we can to understand what happened here.

“It is likely to take several weeks, if not months, to conclude our work.

“While we are at the scene up to 40 people will be at the site at a time, and you will notice an increase of police cars and officers around the town.

“I would like to thank the local community for their support and patience so far while we investigate this tragedy, and hope that this continues as we move forward.”