Two children, aged two and three, died when a fire engulfed a house in south Belfast today. Neighbours were alerted to the blaze in Delhi Parade off the Ormeau Road at around 11am by a woman's screams.
Two women, who were in the house, and another child were taken to hospital suffering from burns and smoke inhalation.
It is understood that the two children who died were not from the same family.
They were found by a settee, behind which they had crawled in an attempt to find shelter from the blaze.
The fire appears to have erupted in the living room of the mid-terraced house and spread quickly, with the children trapped inside.
Local residents were beaten back by the flames.
Doctors at Belfast City Hospital where one of the women was detained said her condition was "comfortable" and she was still being assessed.
The other child was taken to Belfast's Royal Hospital for Sick Children.
Forensic experts and fire officers were later examining the debris of the house in the search for clues as to how the blaze started.
The house was gutted, with the downstairs living room appearing to have borne the brunt of the fire.
Senior Divisional Fire Officer Alex Withers said that at this stage he had "no reason to believe the fire was anything other than accidental".
He said: "The brigade received a call at 11am and three minutes later were on the scene. Two appliances were dispatched from Bankmore Station.
"When they arrived, the mid terraced house was ablaze with the flames leaping through the living room window. So intense was the fire that shrubs in the front garden were actually ablaze.
"On eventually entering the house, we discovered the bodies of the two children aged three and two-and-a-half. A mother was taken to hospital with a one-and-a-half year old in her arms suffering from smoke inhalation."