Woman dies in Donegal house fire

An elderly woman has died following a house fire in Co Donegal this morning.

An elderly woman has died following a house fire in Co Donegal this morning.

The fire is believed to have started following an electrical fault in a room at the rear of the property.

The alarm was raised at 3.35am when emergency services were called to the house at ‘The Cottage‘, Cockhill Road, Buncrana.

A Garda patrol car, two units of the local fire brigade and an ambulance attended the scene.

The woman's body was discovered inside the property and pronounced dead on the scene at 4am. A Garda spokeswoman said the probable cause of death was smoke inhalation.

Her remains were later removed to Letterkenny General Hospital where a postmortem is due to be carried out later today.

The scene has been preserved pending a technical examination and gardaí are not treating the woman’s death as suspicious at this time.

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Luke Cassidy

Luke Cassidy

Luke Cassidy is Digital Production Editor of The Irish Times