Two parents and one of their children have died in a fire at the Indian restaurant they live above in Waimate this morning.
A Fire Service spokesman said three other children - two young girls and one female teen - escaped the blaze by climbing onto a balcony.
Their parents and sibling were unable to escape.
"The three other children escaped out a first floor window onto a veranda.
"Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus got the parents and child out but they were sadly found to be dead."
Emergency services extinguished the blaze about 8.30am in the Everest Indian Restaurant and Takeaway on Queen St.
The call was initially received about 7.40am.
Waimate Fire Brigade chief Duncan Lyall confirmed a man, a woman and a child had died at the scene."
We found three people in the building and tried CPR on them to no avail," Mr Lyall said.
Mr Lyall said while it had not been a "big" fire, there had been a lot of smoke in the building.
South Canterbury police, firefighters and St John ambulance staff were called to the Queen St building.
Waimate Hotel publican Bill Johnson said there was a serious fire above an Indian restaurant about "40 yards" from the hotel.
"It's pretty bad."
A Waimate resident, who did not want to be named, said it was "a very sad day" for the town.
"It's not nice with the casualties.
"There is only internal access to the top floor in the building so exiting the premises would have been difficult."
He said the building was "iconic" and more than 100 years old.Waimate mayor Craig Rowley said a Nepalese family, with four children, had been living in the space above the restaurant.
Mr Rowley, who also owned a jewellery store in the building, said the family had been living in the town for the last 18-months to two years.
He said they had taken over the former Savoy Tea Rooms to turn it into a restaurant.
"I knew them reasonably well," he says.
"They were lovely and hard-working."
While he didn't know the exact age of the kids he knew there were two "younger ones".
Mr Rowley said it was certainly sad news for the small Waimate community.
The mayor added there was a reasonably big Nepalese community in the area with many working on the nearby dairy farms.
"We will rally however we can to help the family," he said. In a statement, police have called the fire a "tragic accident".
"Currently investigations are being carried out to determine the cause of the fire. The building is cordoned off and the cordons will remain in place until the area can be made safe and the investigation is finished.
"Initial reconstruction indicates that this is a tragic accident."
Police were notifying next of kin.
The rescued trio were taken to Timaru Hospital where they were in a stable condition this morning, said a Southland District Health Board spokesman.
Canterbury Police Rural Area Commander Dave Gaskin was on his way the scene and would release more information later this morning.
- Additional reporting by the Otago Daily Times
