Lima: Fire kills 10 members of same family in Peru, police say

A fire has killed 10 members of the same family, including five children, at a home in Peru's capital Lima, police say.

The blaze ripped through the property in the southern La Victoria district early on Wednesday, Gen Oscar Arriola from the Peruvian National Police told local media.

Five children, aged between three and 15 years old, were killed, as well as four adults aged between 29 and 72, and a fifth whose age was not given. Two people were also reportedly injured.

Police are investigating reports that the fire was started by arsonists. Local media say the family, who manufactured mattresses and owned electric motorcycles, had received threats and demands for extortion payments.

According to a report by the government news agency Andina, neighbours said unknown individuals had set fire to motorcycles parked outside, with the flames spreading rapidly through flammable mattress-making materials.

Seventeen members of the family were in the building when the fire started at 03:00 local time (08:00 GMT) but seven managed to escape, the Infobae news site reports.

Listing the exact ages of the victims, the police said the children were aged three, six, six, eight and 15. The adults were aged 29, 35, 42 and 72.

Arriola said their bodies were burned beyond recognition.

"Today, all of Peru falls silent in the face of a tragedy that plunges our nation into mourning," a statement from the National Police of Peru said.