NEW YORK, June 24: Seven members of a Pakistani family, living in Brooklyn (New York), were burned to death when fire, which broke out in the apartment below them, engulfed their third-floor apartment on Sunday.

The started at about 2.30pm when a woman, Muzamal Khawaja, in the second-floor apartment was heating cooking oil on the stove. When she when she was unable to control the fire she rushed out her apartment and began screaming for help.

New York City’s Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg called the fire a “great tragedy,” saying it could have been prevented had Ms Khawaja called 911 immediately.

Ms Khawaja told the authorities that she did scream several times to warn her upstairs neighbours, but there was response.

A report in the New York Times said that when the fire brigade arrived, they encountered heavy smoke and fire on the second floor that made it impossible for them get to the third floor for about 40 minutes, the chief said.

Once inside the apartment, they found the bodies of the mother and five girls — who officials said were between 9 months and 13 years old — inside a bedroom toward the middle of the railroad- style apartment. Later they found the body of the father as well.

Nearly 140 firefighters battled the blaze, which was brought under control at 3.22pm, the authorities said.

The police identified the victims as Mohammad Nadeem 45, Yasmin (his wife), and their children, Aberra, 13, Romeisa, 10, Bisma, 5, Nima, 3, and Zennab, 9 months. Neighbours and friends of the family, who had gathered there, said that the Nadeems had recently returned from a vacation in Pakistan.