SPRINGFIELD, Westmoreland — It was supposed to be a joyous start to the school year but on Monday unmistakable grief hung heavy over Sheffield Primary School in Westmoreland.

Counsellors milled about, earnestly watching for signs of students who needed support to deal with Sunday night’s fiery death of three of their classmates. And even as she mourned, Principal Vinette Malcolm spared a thought for the children’s father, Adrian Laing.

“I grieve for the father as well, who lost the [children’s] mother a year ago. He is the breadwinner, and it’s very hard. I just hope Jamaica will pity him,” she appealed.

Seven-year-old Jayden Laing and his twin brother Jorden, as well as eight-year-old Adrianno perished in a fire that swept through their house about 9:40 pm on Sunday. Their 13-year-old sister Adrianna has been hospitalised with severe burns. She was found near a section of burglar bars that were meant to keep intruders out of their house.

Principal Malcolm recalled the close-knit relationship between the twins.

“They were very, very, close. One would not leave the other if they were going to the bathroom. There was a synergy between them,” she said. “They were very respectful students. It was shocking, nerve-wracking when I sent off the information to the team members [on Sunday night]. They did not sleep because of the shock.”

When the Jamaica Observer visited the scene of the fire on Monday the grief and shock were no less palpable as relatives and firefighters sifted through the rubble looking for clues, trying to make sense of the tragedy. Among the charred remains of bedding and other items of clothing were burnt uniforms and books the children never got a chance to use on Monday.

Their father, Adrian, had prepared everything for them to welcome the new school year, proudly posting photos of his efforts on Facebook. He said he has cared for the children since July when their mother went missing.

Lamenting that when the fire raged he was not close enough to try and save his children, Laing refused to look at the boys’ remains, saying he prefers to remember them in happier times. He was also unable to look at his hospitalised daughter who will now need to seek medical care overseas.

According to the police, the 48-year-old man was at home with his four children when he lit a candle after a power outage in the community.

Laing, a music selector popularly known as DJ Bones, later went outside and, shortly after, the house was engulfed in flames. Efforts were made to rescue the children, however only Adrianna was saved due to the magnitude of the blaze, according to the police report.

When the Negril and Savanna-la-Mar fire brigades were doing cooling down operations, the burnt remains of Jayden, Jorden, and Adrianno were seen in the burnt-out shell of the five-room house. They were taken to hospital where they were pronounced dead.

The children’s grand-uncle Fitzland Pringle, who lives next door, told the Observer that he was home when he heard his daughter shout, “Fire!”

He and a few other men tried to save the children.

“Wi kick off the door fi go in and when it kick off, wi see the biggest daughter pan the ground and wi tek her and put her outta road,” recalled a distraught Pringle.

He said it was after he retrieved his grand-niece that he realised the boys were still inside.

“Mi just shock up. Mi weak, mi cyaa eat, mi cyaa sleep,” he lamented.

The children’s aunt, Kimloye Campbell, had to be escorted from the scene after viewing her nephews’ charred remains.

“We are shattered, we are broken. We don’t know how to pick up the pieces. We are still seeking closure [about her sister’s disappearance so] just to add these three kids to it is too much for us,” said Campbell.