8 children among 12 dead in US house fire

At least 12 people, including 8 children, were killed after a fire tore through a converted three-story house in United States’ Philadelphia on Wednesday.

Eight children were killed in the blaze which is considered one of the deadliest residential infernos in recent years in the USA. Purifoy lost seven younger relatives, the youngest of whom was just one year old.

Officials said eight people escaped the flames, while another two were hospitalized.

Philadelphia Fire Department deputy commissioner Craig Murphy said the toll was ‘dynamic’ with two people rushed to hospital. He said it was the worst fire he had seen in 35 years on the job.

In December 2017, 13 people were killed in a blaze in an apartment building in the Bronx, in New York City’s deadliest fire in 25 years.

ARR