Mother grieves triplets who were 'her whole world'
The triplets' parents, Jane and Martin Weekes, had been in Qatar for the past five years. They returned to Wellington to give birth to the triplets after they were conceived using IVF.
According to TVNZ, Jane won a 'Best Mum in Doha' competition for her effort raising the triplets. She had commented: "A mother's love is not divided amongst her children, but multiplied by each child."
On her profile page on the parenting website BabyCenter.com, Jane said she was at her happiest when her children sat around "laughing like loons at each other".
Children killed in Doha mall blaze were trapped in the nursery
Qatar's Interior Ministry has reported that the 13 children killed in a fire at a shopping mall in the capital city of Doha, were trapped inside of a nursery in the complex. In a press conference this evening the Ministry said:
At 11.34 am, the concerned agency in the Ministry received another call about trapping of about 20 children in a nursery inside the mall, where the fire was broken out and immediately the civil defense team started evacuation process, focusing on the rescue of the children as much as possible [...]
Due to the dense smoke and high temperature inside the mall, the firefighters faced difficulty in accessing to the nursery.
Fire fighters accessed the place of children through the ceiling of the mall and rescue personnel spent great and painstaking efforts in order to save the children and staffers trapped in the nursery, as a result, two men from the Civil Defense were martyred while they were carrying out their noble mission.
2 firefighters die in Doha mall fire, says Qatar's Interior Ministry
Qatar's Interior Ministry have reported on their Twitter account that two firefighters have died in their effort to rescue children trapped in a fire today at a Doha shopping complex.
The Ministry said that they were only alerted later that children were trapped inside and firefighter then had to go in through the ceiling.
Reports that among the 13 children killed in a fire in Qatar's capital of Doha, four were of Spanish nationality, diplomatic sources in Madrid has said.
Qatar's Interior Ministry did not disclose the nationalities of the dead, but admitted that there were Europeans among them. A ministry official told journalists none of the dead were Qataris.
Many expatriates live in Qatar, a gas and oil-rich Gulf Arab state with one of the highest standards of living in the world.
Emergency services worked to stop blaze in Doha shopping mall
Firefighters attempt to extinguish a fire at the Villagio Mall in Doha Credit: Reuters/StringerEmergency personnel evacuate a person via helicopter during a fire at the Villagio Mall, in Doha's west end Credit: Reuters/Stringer
Qatari eyewitness captures footage of Doha mall fire
An eyewitness has posted footage of a fire in the Qatari capital of Doha, where 19 people have been thought to have been killed in a major shopping complex.
The footage posted on YouTube shows black smoke billowing from the shopping centre as emergency vehicles rushed onto the scene.
The Qatar-based satellite network Al Jazeera said 19 people were killed, including 13 children, have been killed today in a fire at an upscale mall in the Qatari capital.
The blaze broke out at the Villagio Mall in Doha's west end. Smoke was billowing from the mall, which was evacuated. Ambulances and police vehicles blocked entry to the complex.
The Gulf Arab state's ministry of interior was planning to hold a news conference about the fire this evening.
