Two children, aged two and three, have died in a house fire in south Belfast.
Caine Donnan-Maxwell (3) and Mary Jane Hewitt (2) died in the fire which started at Caine's mid-terrace house in Delhi Parade, off Ormeau Road, before 11 a.m. yesterday. Mary Jane Hewitt was a visitor to the house.
Two women and another child were taken to hospital suffering from burns and smoke inhalation.
The fire appears to have broken out in the living room and spread quickly, with the children trapped inside.
Their bodies were found by a settee, behind which they had crawled in an attempt to find shelter from the blaze.
Forensic experts and fire officers were later examining the debris of the gutted house in a search for clues to how the fire started, but the senior divisional fire officer, Mr Alex Withers, said that at this stage he had "no reason to believe the fire was anything other than accidental".
He said that when his officers arrived at the scene the house was already ablaze, with flames leaping through the living-room window.
The fire was so intense that shrubs in the front garden were on fire, he added.
"On eventually entering the house, we discovered the bodies of the two children.
A mother was taken to hospital with a one-and-a-half 1 1/2year-old in her arms suffering from smoke inhalation."
Doctors at Belfast City Hospital, where one of the women was detained, said her condition was "comfortable" and she was still being assessed.
The child was taken to the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children.
Local politicians expressed shock at the tragedy. The SDLP MLA for the area, Dr Alasdair McDonnell, said people in the neighbourhood were "absolutely shattered" by events.
"It seems the fire spread rapidly," he said. "There wasn't really any time for people to do anything."
The Women's Coalition MLA for the area, Ms Monica McWilliams, added: "This is a terrible, terrible tragedy. It is a community I know well and people will be devastated that young lives have been taken and taken so quickly.
"It is particularly sad because they have been trying to attract more young families into the area," Ms McWilliams said.