Mystery room under shed where three family members were killed is investigated by specialist team

The mysterious cellar under a backyard tin shed where a father and his two sons were killed by toxic fumes is hidden beneath a thick layer of concrete.

A specialised hazardous material teams worked from midday until dark on Saturday to access the ‘dangerous’ underground cellar in Broken Hill, in NSW’s far west. 

Layne Harvey, 44, and his sons Jakeb, 23, and Kurtis, 16, died on Thursday afternoon from what is believed to have been carbon monoxide poisoning while working with a petrol generator in the confined cellar space. 

Police revealed the cellar was only accessible through ‘a small manhole’, down a shaft and into a small passageway.  

  

Layne Harvey, 44, (left) and his sons Kurtis, 16, (right) and Jakeb ,23, (centre) died on Thursday from what is believed to have been carbon monoxide poisoning in their backyard cellar

‘It’s been a day drilling through concrete and trying to cut through into the foundations to try and get through into that space,’ Acting Superintendent Mick Fuller said on Saturday

Since midday on Saturday a specialised hazardous materials team, (pictured) flown in from Sydney, worked until nightfall to access the four-metre deep underground cellar

Layne Harvey, 44, (right) and his two sons Kurtis, 16, (left) and Jakeb, 23, (second from left) all tragically died in their backyard shed after suffering from carbon monoxide

The Harvey family had made the backyard tin shed their home so they could rent out their house on Ryan Street.

Kurtis Harvey, 16, who was in a caravan in the backyard, rushed inside the shed after hearing his mother Cherie frantically scream for help.

Cherie raised the alarm after noticing her husband was unconscious, the Harvey family’s elderly neighbour Margaret Graham told Daily Mail Australia.  

Cherie Harvey had barely made it out of the four-metre deep cellar and shed to alert her sons when she too was overcome by the toxic carbon-monoxide fumes.

Kurtis’s older brother Jakeb, a 23-year-old electrician, had also bravely rushed in to try to save his stricken dad.

Layne and his two sons died on the way to the Broken Hill Base Hospital soon afterwards.

Reachable only through ‘a small manhole’, down a shaft and into a small passage way, access has been limited, Acting Superintendent Mick Fuller revealed

Brothers Kurtis Harvey, 16, (left) and Jakeb ,23, (right) died on Thursday from what is believed to have been carbon monoxide poisoning while working with generator in their backyard cellar

Air testing confirmed there were still amounts of carbon monoxide present in the cellar, police said on Saturday afternoon

The Harvey family had made the basement of their backyard tin shed (pictured) their home so they could rent out their house on Ryan Street

‘It’s been a day drilling through concrete and trying to cut through into the foundations to try and get through into that space,’ Acting Superintendent Mick Fuller said.

‘It’s a very, very small access point, so almost like a small manhole and a downwards passage that takes across into a bigger area,’ Superintendent Fuller said.

‘The access way into the cellar is pretty much a down shaft and then across … there’s a very small little passage way and there’s a bit of mucking around to get in there.’ 

The backyard scene of the triple tragedy has been fenced off from the Harvey family’s main corner house on Ryan Street. 

High corrugated iron fences partition the backyard from the family home.   

The poorly-ventilated 20-by-60-metre tin shed had no windows or spin-away roof vents.

Air testing confirmed there were still amounts of carbon monoxide present in the cellar, police said on Saturday afternoon. 

Kurtis Harvey, 16, (pictured) who was in a caravan in the backyard, rushed inside after hearing his mother Cherie frantically scream for help

The backyard scene of the tragedy has been fenced off from the main corner house on Ryan Street and high corrugated iron fences (pictured) partition the backyard from the family home

‘It’s a very, very small access point, so almost like a small manhole’ and ‘a downwards passage that takes across into a bigger area,’ Superintendent Fuller said

‘We’ve got nothing in terms of suspicion but I’m not going to speculate in relation to what we find because we simply haven’t been able to get down there,’ Acting Superintendent Mick Fuller said.

‘Unfortunately there is a lot of speculation. That’s part and parcel of small communities.’ 

A resident who lives nearby said he had heard Cherie Harvey scream after she had noticed her husband and two sons had been overcome by fumes from the petrol generator inside the shed.

‘It was just an eerie feeling coming from that place,’ the man who declined to be named, told Daily Mail Australia on Friday afternoon. 

Another woman who lived nearby said Mrs Harvey was agitated as police and ambulance crews rushed to the scene shortly after 4.30pm.

‘She was screaming and swearing and crying,’ she said. 

‘We’ve got nothing in terms of suspicion but I’m not going to speculate in relation to what we find because we simply haven’t been able to get down there,’ Acting Superintendent Mick Fuller (pictured) said 

Pictured: New renters pull up to the Ryan Street home late on Saturday afternoon as police rescue teams continue to work on the area

A father and his two young sons were killed in an outback toxic fume tragedy in the basement of their backyard tin shed which they had made their home so they could rent out their house

Another resident who lives nearby said he had heard Cherie Harvey scream after she had noticed her husband and two sons had been overcome with fumes from the petrol generator inside the shed

The poorly-ventilated tin shed had been extended to house the family.

The shed was 20 by 60metres, had a double-door entrance and a single access door that was closed because of the extremely cold winter weather in the arid outback.

There was a water-cooled air-conditioner attached to the wall of the shed but it would have been switched off for winter in an area where temperatures earlier this month have been as low as minus 2 degrees at night. 

The older son Jakeb had a two-year-old daughter with his girlfriend.

The deaths of Layne, Jakeb and Kurtis leave a devastated Cherie Harvey without a husband and two sons.

Her 18-year-old daughter has also a lost a father and her brothers.

‘You really grieve with the remaining family members,’ a nearby resident said.

A NSW Fire and Rescue team member who was attending the scene put his arm around his teenage son’s shoulders as he laid flowers for his mate on Friday afternoon

‘We’ve got nothing in terms of suspicion but I’m not going to speculate in relation to what we find because we simply haven’t been able to get down there,’ Superintendent Fuller said 

‘It’s really ripped into the community.

‘I didn’t know the family but I really feel for them.’

Teenagers have sorrowfully been laying flowers in the red dirt against the corrugated iron fence of the yard, which is cordoned off with police tape.

A New South Wales Fire and Rescue team member who was attending the scene put his arm around his teenage son’s shoulders as he laid flowers for his mate on Friday afternoon.

‘It’s a very traumatic event for the town … our mission out of all of this is to get answers for the family and the coroner’s report,’ Acting Superintendent Mick Fuller said.

Just before 5pm on Saturday, new renters were seen pulling up to the Ryan Street home late as police rescue teams continued to work on the area.

The Harveys had moved into a caravan and the shed of their red-dirt backyard with one orange tree, only a couple of days before the tragedy

Layne and Cherie Harvey bought their three-bedroom house on Ryan Street at Railway Town in West Broken Hill in 2000, property records show.

The Harveys had moved into a caravan and the shed of their red-dirt backyard with one orange tree, only a couple of days before the tragedy Mrs Graham said.

The spartan backyard with no grass had a trampoline, boat, upside-down dinghy and a gas barbecue next to the caravan.

The Harvey family house on Ryan Street was advertised for rent at $330 a week by First National on June 18, just 10 days before the tragedy.

Rents in Broken Hill are expensive due to the lack of rental accommodation as new mines are about to open, with houses typically leased out for $300 a week in the heritage city of 18,000 people which gave Australia mining giant BHP.

The mining city of Broken Hill, in the far west of New South Wales, is in mourning after the tragic deaths 

Their long-term neighbour Margaret Graham said they were ‘just a normal family’.

Mrs Graham said the older son Jakeb had a little two-year-old daughter, and he often played the drums.

Police have confirmed the generator was in the basement, which led to the tragic deaths of the three males.

A nearby resident said he often heard power tools being used in the shed every afternoon, adding the lights were never on in the house.

New South Wales Fire and Rescue crews spent Friday afternoon trying to disperse the toxic fumes from the basement of the shed, to no avail.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Broken Hill Police who declined to comment any further on the investigation. 

Police have confirmed the generator was in the basement, which led to the tragic deaths of the three males

A shocked community have placed flowers outside the yard where a man and his two sons tragically died from carbon monoxide fumes

 

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