11 die in US family fire tragedy
Eleven family members died in their apartment in Marrero, Louisiana, in the US after a mattress caught fire and got stuck in the front door as they tried to drag it out, authorities said.
The fire was started by candles the family had been using because they had just moved in and did not yet have electricity, Sheriff Harry Lee said.
Four other members of the family escaped. The dead ranged in age from 6 months to 42 years.
Their names were not immediately released.
The apartment, in a lower-to-middle-class neighbourhood across the Mississippi River from New Orleans, was engulfed in flames when rescue workers arrived this morning. Neighbours reported hearing screams and cries for help.
Some of the victims apparently died of smoke inhalation, and others from burns, authorities said.
The four survivors were apparently not seriously injured. It was unclear how they got out, sheriff’s spokesman Bob Garner said.
