'Rumour and speculation' over fatal South Dunedin fire

Police say the investigation into two deaths in a house fire in South Dunedin involves several different versions of events and "a fair bit of rumour and speculation".

Southern District Police investigations manager Detective Inspector Steve Wood said the fire in Wesley St was a "complex scene", and as a result, the post mortems were also complex and on-going.

"It's just going to take a wee while to put this one together.''

Detective Inspector Wood said police investigators had been hearing "a fair bit of rumour and speculation'' about what had happened in the lead-up to the fatal fire.

"We've got several reports of different versions of events that we obviously follow up, and we've got an inquiry team working away on all these different versions of events, but we're interested in dealing with the facts and what the scene and post mortems will tell us.

"We don't ignore any information that comes in ... and we're very interested to see where it's come from and trace it back to see if there is anything in it.''

Wood confirmed the victims were a male and a female, and said the name of the female may be released later today or tomorrow.

He was not yet able to say when the male's name would be released.

A police presence remained Wednesday at the site of the house fire.

A section of Wesley St was again cordoned off as police remained on the scene.

They were removed from the house on Tuesday.

The fire occurred in the back flat of the property early on Monday.

''Police are grateful for the information received from the public so far, and would still like to hear from anyone else who may have seen or heard something which could assist our investigation," Wood said.

• Contact Dunedin police on 03 471 4800 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.