Children in hospital after Belfast housefire

Two children were being treated in hospital today after a housefire which police suspect was started deliberately.

The four-year-old boy and his 15-month-old sister were asleep in their home at Colinview Street in the Edenderry area of West Belfast when the fire started in a wheelie bin at the rear of the house.

Police said the house filled with smoke and both the children and an uncle who was looking after them were overcome.

The alarm was raised by a passer by who saw the fire and called the Fire and Rescue Service.

They were all rescued from the house and taken to hospital for treatment for the effects of smoke inhalation, said a PSNI spokeswoman.

She added: “We are investigating the fire and at the moment are treating it as suspicious.”

Meanwhile six people had to be rescued from a separate fire after an arson attack on a flat in Craigavon, Co Armagh.

Police said a settee was pushed up against the front door of the flat in the Moyraverty Building at Brownlow in the town and set alight.

The six people in the flat were trapped in side as the property filled with smoke and had to be rescued by the Fire Service.