A mother and five children have died following an "unexplained" house fire in north-west London.
Thirty firefighters were called to the semi-detached property in Sonia Gardens, Neasden, during the early hours of Saturday morning after a blaze on the ground and first floors. It is understood that Muna Elmufatish, 41, and her daughters Hanin Kua, 14, Basma, 13, and Amal, 9, and sons Mustafa, 5 and Yehya, aged 2, were of Palestinian origin.
Leila Nasir, 13, standing at a nearby police cordon, said: "My friend Basma lived at that house. At the last lesson on Friday I was sitting next to her. It was a science lesson. Basma was the best in everything."
Muna's husband Bassam Kua, 51, and another daughter Nur, 16, managed to escape and were being treated at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London, after suffering critical burns.
An investigation was launched into the cause of the blaze, which one neighbour described as beginning with a "loud bang" around midnight. and was brought under control at 2:50am The neighbour, who requested anonymity, added: "It was like an explosion, almost like a bomb. It was horrific, my dad says he's never seen anything like it in his whole life, honestly I was so shocked."
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "We are working with the fire brigade to establish the circumstances of the fire but it is currently being treated as unexplained."
A London Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: "We sent the air ambulance, a doctor in a car, four ambulance crews and a hazardous area response team. Sadly four youngsters and an adult were dead at the scene."
