HUDDERSFIELD, England, May 12: British police opened a murder probe on Sunday after seven people, including five sisters aged between six months and 13 years, died in a fire at a house in Huddersfield, northern England.

Police Detective Superintendent Bob Bridgestock said they were looking for three or four Asian men who were seen in the garden of the house just before the blaze began overnight.

Neighbours said the family originated from Pakistan and that the house was owned by a 60-year-old man whose daughter had been visiting him with her five daughters.

Bridgestock said police were making inquiries within their extended family and abroad but that so far there was no obvious motive for the apparent arson attack.

“I have no idea at this moment why somebody should take this action against such a nice family,” he told reporters near the scene.

“Somebody has decided last night to start this fire.”

Bridgestock said 11 people were in the house when the blaze started. Four adults escaped but two others and the five children all died.

A further two adults were critically ill in hospital.

The children were asleep in bed and were trapped by the blaze, which started at the front of the house and spread rapidly, destroying the staircase.

“The fire was so rampant that the flames and smoke engulfed the upstairs very quickly and they were trapped,” he said.

Bridgestock told a news conference that three or four Asian youths aged 18 to 20 had been seen throwing something against the house shortly before it burst into flames.

“Shortly before the fire started there was a sound of breaking glass,” he said. The youths were throwing something at the windows and doors but fled when a neighbour shouted out, he added.—AFP