NEW YORK: A house fire in Brooklyn, New York, killed seven children, possibly all related, early Saturday, police said.

The victims are between the ages of five and 14 and were not immediately identified, but police told AFP “it’s very possible” they all belonged to the same family.

Two surviving female victims, aged 45 and 15, were in hospital after a fire, which engulfed the home around midnight (0400 GMT).

“I heard a woman yelling, ‘My kids are in there. Get them out, get them out!’” a neighbor, Nate Weber, told the New York Post.

Weber saw children being taken from the home on stretchers and “I knew it was bad news... I just turned away. I didn’t even want to look,” he said.

Police said the cause of the blaze was under investigation.

New York City’s fire commissioner said a malfunctioning hotplate may have caused the fire.

Commissioner Daniel Nigro said the hotplate was left on because of sabbath prohibitions against cooking.

More than 100 firefighters battled the blaze and brought it under control at around 1:30 a.m, about an hour after it was reported.

Firefighters received a call at 12:23 a.m. about the blaze at a single-family home in Midwood, a leafy section of Brooklyn known for its low crime and large Orthodox Jewish population.

Fire officials had no other immediate details, but the New York Post reported the blaze occurred in a brick home.

The newspaper said that as firefighters worked to put out the fire, paramedics struggled to help the victims.

The New York Fire Department responded to some 2,504 “serious incidents” fires in 2014, according to its annual report.