Fundraiser set up after 'tragic' fire that killed two sisters in Aberdeen

Two sisters who died in a ‘horrific’ fire which broke out on Monday night in Aberdeen have been named locally.

Shikshya and Aanchal Subedi, who were in their early 20s, died alongside their cat Boba in the blaze on Back Hilton Road in the city shortly before 6pm on January 29.

A GoFundMe page has raised more than £8,000 for the family of the sisters.

Michelle Munro, a friend of Shikshya and Aanchal’s older sister Susan, set it up to support their family.

She told STV News that she received a call at 1am from Susan when they were both in Glasgow who told her the police had phoned to tell her that her sisters had died in a fire.

“We drove from Glasgow to Aberdeen at 1am and it was the worst drive I have ever done. If I thought it was bad, Susan must have thought it was absolutely horrendous,” she said, “It felt like a nightmare.”

The money raised will go towards helping with funeral costs for the sisters and flights for the family to Nepal, where they are originally from.

Officers were called to a report of a blaze on Back Hilton Road in Aberdeen on Monday. Supplied

“It’s just tragic, not even just to lose one, but two sisters and for their mum to lose two daughters,” Michelle said, “They’ve come over here for a better life. No one could imagine what’s happened, so I started the page to try and raise funds for people to show their support and help the family, because there’s no other way to help.”

Any surplus raised will be donated to a trust that the family intends to set up in the sisters’ names which will help young girls in their Nepalese village to get an education.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said that seven fire appliances and specialist resources were mobilised to the scene on Monday.

A joint investigation between Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is ongoing to establish the full circumstances. However, police said there are no apparent suspicious circumstances at this time.