Twelve people have been killed and several more have been injured after a fire broke out in an apartment building in the US city of Philadelphia.
Eight children are among the dead, an official from the Philadelphia Fire Department told reporters.
The blaze began at around 06:00 local time in a public housing block in the north of the city.
Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy told reporters it was one of the worst fires he had ever seen.
He added that eight other residents had managed to escape the building.
It is believed there were 26 people in the three-storey block at the time of the fire.
Murphy told reporters that while authorities do not currently consider the cause of the fire to be suspicious, there will still be a thorough investigation due to the loss of life.
