Neighbours tried desperately to save an 11-year-old boy and his mother who died in a house fire in Manapouri yesterday, police say.
Their bodies were found by specialist search teams combing through the ruins, after the blaze broke out in View St at 3.40am on Thursday.
Police earlier said other people remained unaccounted for, but they were now satisfied no-one else was at home at the time of the fire.
A man who also lived at the rental property was away at work at the time the fire took hold, police said.
Detective Sergeant Mark McCloy, of Invercargill, said officers were speaking to neighbours who tried to rescue the woman and her son.
"Neighbours at the property attempted valiantly to gain entry to the burning house, but they were unable to and contacted emergency services," he said.
The house was destroyed, McCloy said.
"We had to get a crane in to remove what was left of the roof to allow our scene team to get in," he said.
Police were still treating the fire as unexplained and were working with fire investigators to establish the cause.
Det Sgt McCloy said police and Fire and Emergency New Zealand staff would continue examining the house over coming days.
Support was being offered to North Island relatives and local iwi had blessed the property, he said.
"The thoughts of everyone involved are with the victims' whanau, who are being supported at this tragic time," he said.
Southland District Mayor Rob Scott said the fire not only affected the small community of Manapouri, but all of Southland.
‘‘Southland itself is a tight-knit community, I’ve been talking to people all around and they have all felt it.
‘‘We are the type of people who care — you could say Southland itself is in mourning.’’
‘‘The community is doing what they do best and wrapping around each other for support.’’
‘‘This is a very sad situation, my thoughts are out to everyone involved.
‘‘As is the nature of a small community, the volunteers and the firefighters who were first on the scene may have been going out to people and places they knew well.
‘‘It’s a hard time for a lot of people and my thoughts go out to the family and everyone in the wider community who have been affected by this.’’
Fiordland councillor Sarah Greaney said people in Manapouri would be shocked and saddened by the deaths.
"We are a small-knit community, both in Manapouri and Te Anau, so when events like this happen they do send a ripple through the community," she said.
"These things do come out of the blue and they are unfortunately great reminders of how precious life is."
The first death was announced yesterday and the second by police this morning.
Community shocked by fire death
The news of the initial death yesterday shocked the close-knit community.
Fiordland Community Board chairwoman Diane Holmes said the community was upset.
"They just want to pull together and see what they can do to help," she said.
"It’s very sad. People are just in shock."
Ms Holmes was unsure of the circumstances of the blaze, but said the community was amazing about coming together to look after one another.
"There will be a lot of care," she said.
Fire investigators and Invercargill CIB were at the property for most of the day to piece together what had happened.
The Manapouri Volunteer Fire Brigade had been first on the scene and was soon followed by two engines from Te Anau’s volunteer brigade.
One neighbour said Manapouri’s volunteer siren, located metres from his home, woke him at 3.58am.
"Normally when the siren goes off I go back to sleep, but about 6 to 7 minutes later I heard banging outside.
"Then my bedroom lit up bloody orange."
His bedroom was at the back of his house, but the glow from the fire reflected into it off his neighbour’s windows, he said.
It took him a little while to work out it was not his immediate neighbour’s house on fire.
Firefighters were already battling the blaze when he went to investigate.
"I think there must’ve been gas bottles or something because there were some loud explosions and then smaller explosions like ammunition.
"I don’t know what it was, but it was certainly going off."
Manapouri sits on the fringe of Fiordland’s national park and has about 100 homes.
The neighbourhood has a mix of long-term residents in their homes or rental properties, as well as holiday homes and Airbnb rental properties.
— additional reporting RNZ and Grant Miller
