Three children killed in house fire

Three "lovely" children have died and their mother is critically ill after a fire swept through their home.

Residents of Clarence Avenue, Bridlington, East Yorkshire, described their desperate attempts to save three-year-old Maddie, AJ, five, and William, nine.

Fire crews and police were called to the cul-de-sac at 11.58pm on Thursday. The children's mother, 27-year-old Samantha Hudson, was also taken from the house. She is in a critical condition in hospital in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

Nurse Lesley Salisbury, 59, said: "I saw flames coming from the bottom of the house and I ran out. To be honest I just can't remember getting from my house to there. But a firefighter brought out a little boy.

"I told him I was a nurse and I started to work on him. I think I just went into nurse mode. I was doing chest compressions and the firefighters were doing the oxygen. After that it was just a blur, a dreadful blur.

"Some of the neighbours said I worked on the other two as well but I don't really remember. I do remember the firefighters bringing them out; they were like little rag dolls."

Mark Rhodes, of Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, described the tragedy as "probably the most difficult, most challenging type of incident that we can ever be expected to deal with".

He said: "I don't think anybody in their career ever expects to face the trauma of a fire involving children and the very difficult working conditions of last night.

"The extent of the fire damage is considerable: the property was very heavily smoke-clogged when fire crews arrived. Breathing apparatus teams were inside the building inside five minutes."

The cause of the blaze remains unknown.