Four children from one family were killed in a house fire in a Dutch town early Wednesday morning, Radio Netherlands reported.
The children, aged one, four, six and eight, died in their sleep in an attic bedroom in the central northern town of Kampen. Their mother and 10 other brothers and sisters were rescued. The father, a barge captain, was away in Germany. He has now returned to his family, Xinhua reported.
The fire brigade were called to the house at around 2.30 a.m. ( 0030 GMT) on Wednesday and 30 fire fighters extinguished the blaze. The fire brigade suspected that the fire started in the stairway to the attic where the four children were sleeping.