Apartment block blaze kills nine in Mississippi, US

December 29, 2009

A blaze at an apartment block killed nine people early yesterday morning in Mississippi, US. The dead included six young children, and the building was seriously damaged after fire broke out at 4 a.m. in Starkville.

All nine victims were in the same apartment in the two-story building, which was split into eight residences and sustained heavy damage to three of these. Firefighters had difficulty dealing with the emergency and were still there six hours after the fire began.

The youngest child was six months old and the eldest was four. No names have been released, and the disaster's cause remains a mystery. Emergency services kept residents away while they cleaned up the scene.