Four-year-old Wigan boy whose dad died saving him from a house fire has now also died

A little boy whose dad died saving him from a house fire has also now lost his battle for life. There had been reports from relatives that four-year-old Ethan Mason’s injuries had been slightly less severe than had at first been first feared, but he was still very seriously ill in an induced coma following emergency surgery.

And Wigan police have now issued the heartbreaking news confirming that the youngster died on Tuesday.

Flames tore through a semi-detached home on Warrington Road, Goose Green, in the early hours of Sunday, April 14.

There were six occupants caught up in the disaster and five of them escaped relatively unscathed. But then it was realised that young Ethan was still trapped inside and his father Barry bravely went back through the smoke and flames to rescue him.

Tragically Barry did not survive while Ethan suffered 70 per cent burns and was rushed to hospital. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation but police had already concluded that there were no suspicious circumstances and had passed on a file concerning Barry’s death to the coroner.

Det Insp Lee Gridley, from Greater Manchester Police’s Wigan district, said: “This is a devastating incident and all of our thoughts are with the family of this young boy, who had his entire life ahead of him. Together with the earlier death, this is a tragedy for the Wigan community and I know that many people will be shocked by this heartbreaking news. I hope people will join us in sending their absolute best wishes to all those involved in this incident, as they begin their journey in the healing process.

“While we are not treating the incident as suspicious, if anyone has any information they believe is important, please do get in touch with us. You can do this by calling police on 101, quoting log 393 of 14/04/2024.”

Before the latest tragic development relatives had set up a Gofundme page both to help pay for the funeral costs and also to help surviving family members because they lost all their belongings in the fire.