Tributes to tragic brothers

TRAVELLERS at a caravan site in Ipswich today told of their struggle to come to terms with the death of two brothers in a devastating fire.

Emotional tributes lined part of West Meadows travellers site' in Bury Road, Ipswich, in an outpouring of grief from the travellers community.

Bunches of flowers, teddy bears and other soft toys were left for the boys, aged three and 11, who died after the fire tore through the caravan they were in on Saturday night.

One resident of the site said: "Everybody feels so sorry for them."

Fire crews were called just before midnight after the blaze broke out in the caravan.

The boys were seemingly trapped inside and, despite desperate attempts by the firefighters, they both died.

The tragedy has rocked the tight-knit travellers' community at West Meadows.

One resident said travellers, friends and relatives of the distraught family, converged on the site yesterday .

She said: "There were 300 travellers who came here yesterday."

They left behind tributes to the boys and messages of condolence to their family.

The flowers decorated a line of fencing near to the site of a caravan belonging to the boys' grandparents.

Today the grandparents were too distraught to speak of their loss.

Another resident told how the fire spread quickly through the caravan.

He said: "By the time I came out it was all gone. It's horrible."

Another resident told how the boys had regularly played in her garden.

She said: "They were always up here with their football."

She added that other children had been so affected by the fire that they had not been seen playing out in the site since Saturday night's tragedy.

N Would you like to pay tribute to the boys? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.