Seven children from an Orthodox Jewish family were killed early Saturday by a house fire at their home in Brooklyn, New York.
New York Police Department officials said those children who died ranged in age from 5 to 16 years old and were all from one family. Three of the them were girls, four boys.
Officials believed a hot plate left in the kitchen ignited the flames. The fire broke out shortly after midnight while the children were all trapped in their bedrooms in the back of the top floor.
The kids' mother, 45, and her 14-year-old daughter managed to escape the blaze by jumping out of the window of second-story, and were all in critical condition.
More than 100 firefighters responded to the fire. Neighbors said that they saw flames bellowing from the house and heard screams before firefighters arrived.
"This is the largest tragedy by fire that the city has had in seven years," New York Fire Department Commissioner Daniel Nigro said at a news conference.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio visited the home a few hours after the fire, saying that it is an "unbelievable tragedy."
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