A Somaliland woman and five of her daughters were killed Saturday night in an apartment fire in Stockholm, Swedish authorities said.

The 42-year-old and her family had attempted to escape the fire and smoke via the stairs and were found in the stairwell of the six-story building, police said. The woman’s sixth daughter is in hospital in a critical condition. The youngest victim was around one-year-old.

The family lived in an apartment above the fire. A resident of another apartment in the building was also taken to hospital.

Police said the cause of the blaze, which started in a ground floor apartment, was not yet known.

“There are no signs to suggest that a crime is behind the fire, but we have started an investigation into the cause of the fire,” Stockholm police spokeswoman Karin Solberg said.

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Six die in Sweden apartment fire

Twelve apartments in the building were evacuated, and residents were unable to return to their homes later on Saturday night. Photo by BGNES

At least six people, five of which children, have died in a fire that broke out in an apartment in Rinkeby in western Stockholm on Saturday evening.

The fire broke on the ground floor of the building on Kuddbygränd in the predominantly immigrant district of Rinkeby, about 15 kilometers west of the Swedish capital, and all the victims died of smoke inhalation, The Local reported.

“They are born from the end of the 1990s to the end of the 2000s, but I do not want to confirm their exact ages”, Håkan Westin of Stockholm police said to news agency TT.

According to Westin there are indications that four of the victims died after becoming stuck in an elevator in the building.

The apartment was described by the emergency services as a loft apartment and it is not known how many people were inside when the fire broke out. By the time emergency services arrived on the scene the apartment was ablaze.

Twelve apartments in the building were evacuated, and residents were unable to return to their homes later on Saturday night. Temporary accommodation was arranged for those affected.

Many of those interviewed by TT at the scene commented on what they felt was an inordinate delay in the arrival of the emergency services.

The cause of the fire had not yet been established by Sunday morning.

“We have called in technicians to examine what has happened”, Lars Byström of Stockholm police said at a press conference in Rinkeby.

TT’s reporter described chaotic scenes in the vicinity of the burning building, and on Sunday morning many local residents remained in the dark over the safety of their friends, family and neighbors.

“I was woken up by the sirens during the night, I have friends that live in the building and I am trying to get hold of them now,” a neighbour told TT’s reported at the scene.

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