WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this story contains images of persons who have died.

Four people, including two young children, have died in a devastating house fire in the Queensland town of Emerald, a tragedy the state’s premier says will send shockwaves through the tight-knit community.

Emergency crews arrived within minutes of the blaze breaking out before 7am on Thursday, finding the home already engulfed in flames. Two people managed to escape and were being consoled by neighbours who tried in vain to control the fire with garden hoses.

Queensland Police Senior Sergeant Peter McFarlane confirmed the victims were siblings Maddison, aged one year and eight months, and her five-month-old brother Desmond, along with a teenage girl and family friend,

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