A MOTHER and her seven children, aged two to 14, died after a fire broke out while they slept in their house in northern France today, police and firefighters said.

The blaze broke out shortly after midnight in the family home in the town of Charly-sur-Marne, some 80km east of Paris.

The mother and her children died from asphyxiation, local prosecutor Julien Morino-Ros told AFP.

The origin of the fire appeared to have been a malfunctioning clothes dryer on the ground floor of the house, he said.

Neighbours called the fire department to report the blaze just before 1am.

The woman’s husband, father to three of the children, was seriously burned and transferred to a hospital, they said.

The children included five girls and two boys. Four of them were from the mother’s previous relationship. – AFP, February 6, 2023.