Seven children killed in gas explosion at house

Eleven people, including seven children, were killed today when a gas bottle exploded and trapped them inside a burning home in Australia.

Two families, Tongan and Samoan, shared the house in Logan City, south of Brisbane in Queensland, and were asleep at the time.

Father of five Jeremiah Lale smashed a window, threw a mattress on the ground and jumped out of the burning building before yelling for his family to follow but they were overcome by the flames and smoke.

He was among three men who escaped the blaze which engulfed the two-storey house.

Mr Lale's sister-in-law and her two young daughters, aged six and three, perished alongside their grandmother and teenage cousin. Another woman and her five children are missing.

Although fire fighters were quickly on the scene there was little they could do as the building collapsed.

Logan police superintendent Noel Powers described as "a tragedy beyond comprehension - a total, utter catastrophe". Experts who identified victims of the terrorist bombings in Bali have been called in. The tragedy is Queensland's worst fire since the Childers backpacker blaze, in which 15 young people from all over the world lost their lives. Queensland premier Anna Bligh visited the scene and said the community would rally around the victims. She added: "We are talking about a number of very young children. This is a community in shock today."