A teenage mother died in a fireball after running from her home in flames.
Rachel Osei, 18, was heard screaming in agony before collapsing on the pavement where she died from terrible burns.
Police believe Miss Osei, who was studying to be a PE teacher at university, may have caught fire inside her house.
Three members of the public tried to extinguish the flames, but they were unable to save her.
Investigation: An 18-year-old girl died as she went up in flames in New Malden, Surrey (scene pictured)
Investigation: Police have sealed off a nearby house and said they were treating the death as 'unexplained'
Evidence: A forensic officer collects new baby clothes from a dustbin
Neighbours said Miss Osei’s four-year-old-son Kai was staying with relatives at the time of the tragedy, which happened early yesterday.
Investigators are treating her death as ‘unexplained’, but it is understood their main line of inquiry is that her injuries may have been self-inflicted.
Last night, her heartbroken father Jonathan Osei, 48, said he could not understand what had happened.
‘Rachel was at university training to be a sports teacher,’ he said. ‘She wanted to do well and provide for her son. When I heard about the fire I tried to call her on her mobile phone but there was no answer. I tried to protect her but I could not.
‘I loved Rachel, she was a lovely, lovely daughter. I named her after my mother. I had four children but now I have only three.’
The tragedy took place outside Miss Osei’s semi-detached home in New Malden, South-West London.
'Witness': Residents near to the home, pictured, have today described hearing screams at 1am
Search: Officers were today looking for clues at the scene and at the house, pictured
She was living in a property owned by the Wandle Housing Association, which often houses single mothers.
Miss Osei was studying at St Mary’s University, which is a few miles away in Twickenham. Neighbours described how they heard the noise of ‘terrible screaming’ shortly after 1am on Sunday.
Miss Osei was found with severe burns close to a level crossing at the junction of West Barnes Lane and Burlington Road.
Firemen, paramedics and police raced to the scene but she was pronounced dead at 1.45am. Layla Hamid, 20, said: ‘I heard this terrible screaming at about 1am. It was coming from the house opposite. Then the sound of the noise appeared to move down the road.
‘After that I saw loads of police cars and ambulances. It has been really crazy. It’s really sad.’ Yesterday a police forensic tent covered the spot where Miss Osei died, close to the entrance to a Tesco Extra superstore.
Witness: Neighbours have also suggested the teen may have been a single mother
Horrific: Fire services (pictured) rushed to the area at 1am this morning. The teen died from her injuries
Scene: Police believe the girl was set alight in a nearby house before staggering towards the tracks (pictured)
Detectives were piecing together her movements in the hours before the tragedy and were trying to identify what flammable substance was used.
Family friends said her mother, Rosalind Roberts, 46, and siblings Justin, 20, Nicole, 15, and Naomi, 14, were ‘devastated’.
The London Fire Brigade and the Metropolitan Police are conducting a joint inquiry into the cause of the blaze.
A Met spokesman appealed for the three people who tried to save Miss Osei to get in touch and tell investigators exactly what they saw.
‘The death is being treated as unexplained,’ the spokesman said. ‘We would like to speak to three members of the public who assisted in trying to save the woman’s life by trying to extinguish the flames at the time of the incident.’
A London Fire Brigade spokesman said two fire engines and 14 firemen attended but were unable to save Miss Osei. ‘She had suffered severe burns and was pronounced dead at the scene,’ he added.
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