Pennsylvania Row House Blaze Kills 8 Children

Eight young children were killed Saturday morning by a fire in a row house. Two children and three adults, including the mother of all but one of the dead children, escaped from the two-story duplex.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation, but according to police, firefighters found kitchen stove gas jets turned on and the oven door open, an indication that the stove was being used to heat the house. Police said the fire apparently started in a mattress, and an investigator said a space heater with a frayed electric cord may have set the mattress on fire.