A couple and their five children are feared dead following a house fire in Omagh, Co Tyrone, early this morning.
Police have confirmed two adults and three children died in the flames at the house. Investigations into other missing members of the family were continuing, with detectives investigating the cause not ruling out a crime.
Farm manager Arthur McElhill, his partner Lorraine and their five children, were in the three-bedroomed terraced house at Lammy Crescent when the fire started.
Firemen at the scene of today's fire at Lammy Crescent, Omagh, Co Tyrone.
The eldest of the children is a girl, aged 13, a student at the town's Sacred Heart College. The youngest of the victims was a baby boy who was only 10 months old.
The family moved into the Housing Executive property several years ago. Mr McElhill comes from the Ederney area of Co Fermanagh and his partner Lorraine is originally from Co Cavan.
Five fire engines and 40 firefighters from Omagh and neighbouring towns and villages fought the fire at the house after the alarm was raised at 4.55 am.
The nearby St Conor's Primary School was closed following the fire. Some of the children who died in the fire were among the pupils.
Rescue services believe the fire may have started on the first floor at around 4.30am. The tiled roof collapsed, and neighbours said there was little they could do to save the family, some of whom were spotted upstairs at the height of the fire.
Area Commander Eoin Doyle said: "The house has been very, very extensively damaged, there has been a massive fire on the first floor and extensive damage throughout. It's all black in there and there is lots of debris."
Det Chief Supt Norman Baxter said PSNI officers were carrying out a full investigation to "try to establish if there were any untoward circumstances". As part of their inquiries detectives will be checking to find out if there were any difficulties within the family or tensions with people in the area.
Deputy chief fire officer Louis Jones said five bodies had been recovered in first floor bedrooms and another two were still missing. "Searches are continuing, however, they are being scaled down until the morning on the advice of the police."
The victims are expected to be removed tomorrow.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern expressed his shock at the deaths. "The loss of so many lives from one family in such circumstances is truly heartbreaking. My thoughts and prayers and those of my colleagues are with relatives and friends at this sad time," said Mr Ahern.
Omagh independent councillor Paddy McGowan, a former fireman, said: "I've never seen anything like it. It must have been a ferocious fire. People living in houses next door had to get out.
"Nobody can believe this has happened. . . . I've been a fireman for 25 years, and this must be one of the worst losses of life in a single incident that I can remember."
Dr Josephine Deehan, an SDLP member of Omagh District Council, said: "The mood in Omagh is very sombre. It's a tragedy of unparalleled proportions, a family wiped out in the most traumatic of circumstances."