Community groups rallied around a shattered family who lost their four-year-old son in a tragic house fire in Dandenong in July.
Rithish Kirushnaneethan died in his family home on Sunday 25 July despite desperate attempts to rescue him from his bedroom.
The Victorian Tamil Association as well as a separate Go Fund Me page were set up to collect cash and donations for the grief-stricken and homeless family.
More than $100,000 was raised with all proceeds put towards Rithish’s funeral expenses as well as accommodation, furniture, clothing, and food for the family.
The asylum-seeker family lost all of their savings and belongings in the awful inferno.
Tamil Community Association secretary Murugesu Paramanathan said the association was also “overwhelmed” by donations of cash, clothes, furniture and white goods.
Friends close to the family say they believed a heater and possible gas leak may have been involved in the fire.
They had moved into their home from Perth just two weeks before the fire.
Go Fund Me page co-organiser and Greater Dandenong councillor Rhonda Garad said the family was “gutted”, with the mother particularly distraught by the tragic loss of her son.
“She said her son wanted to go to bed early and so she was cooking in the kitchen and just saw the flicker of flames and them the whole area was on fire,” Ms Garad said.
“She is beyond broken.”
