Five bodies found as fire rips through home of family celebrating Diwali

FIVE members of the same family are believed to have died and another person was missing after a fire tore through two floors of a terrace home in west London.

- John Dunne and Miriam Burrell

Some 70 firefighters and 10 fire engines were called to the blaze in Channel Close, Hounslow, just before 10.30pm yesterday. The bodies of five people were discovered by firefighters on the first floor of the house.

They are believed to be members of the same family, police said. One person remained unaccounted for. Police have launched an investigation into the fire which destroyed the ground floor and first floors and part of the roof of the mid-terrace property.