It has been one week since the tragic incident in the Municipality of Malishevë, where three people lost their lives—a father and his two children, a 12-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy—as a result of asphyxiation from smoke caused inside their apartment.

The bodies were sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine (IML) at the request of the Prosecution for autopsy, a report which the family has still not received.

Ilir Berisha was the father of four children. The two other children of the deceased, who were not in the apartment when the fire occurred—a 13-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy—are currently under the care of their grandfather and uncle. Their parents were previously divorced.

Kosovo's Director of Health and Social Welfare in the municipality, Amrush Helshani, told KosovaPress that the family had been in social housing since 2021, and in addition to social assistance, the girl who lost her life had also been receiving a child pension since 2022.

He said they are working on making a decision regarding the custody of the children.

“According to the information I have from the Directorate of Public Services, this family has been in social housing since 2021. We have not had any officially reported problems. Regarding the Center for Social Work, its officials have continuously provided professional and social support. Also, the girl who is no longer alive had been receiving a child pension since 2022. As the Center for Social Work, after the incident we have mobilized and provided support to the Berisha family. We are working on custody of the children because we now have two children who, fortunately, are healthy, but are in a difficult situation, although they have strong support from their grandfather and uncle. We are in contact with the families and we are working on making a custody decision,” he said.

He also spoke about possible electricity-related issues and official reports regarding the case.

“Officially, we have no complaints from residents. The Directorate of Public Services manages the social housing, but officially, I have inquired and we have spoken with directors, and we do not have any official complaint regarding electricity problems… The case is being handled by the competent authorities and we still do not have an official report on the causes of how this incident occurred,” he said.

The Social Housing official in the Directorate of Public Services, Fadil Shala, also said that the Berisha family had never complained about electricity.

Shala said the two buildings and kindergartens are connected to a separate transformer established according to the energy agreement.

“Resident Ilir Berisha was accommodated with his family based on a contract provided under the legal framework, for a period of three years, after which an inspection is usually carried out again, a commission is formed upon the request of the directorate, and another visit is made to those families to see whether their economic or housing situation has changed, whether they have built a house or improved their conditions, and whether they still meet the criteria to remain in the apartment… For that building, we did not receive anything in writing, because both object 01 and 02, as well as the two kindergartens, are connected to a separate transformer specifically established according to the energy consent,” he said.

Ilir Berisha and two of his children lost their lives on April 16 in the “Mirdita” neighborhood in Malishevë. It was initially suspected that they died as a result of a gas cylinder explosion, but this was later denied by security authorities. Competent institutions are still investigating the case to determine the cause of the smoke that led to the tragedy in their apartment.