Four children died early Sunday in a house fire near Yarmouth, N.S., CTV News has learned.
Emergency crews were called to the scene of the fire in Pubnico Head shortly after midnight, police said.
Multiple sources told CTV Atlantic that four children died in the blaze.
Authorities would not confirm the number, ages or genders of the fatalities, but they did say two individuals escaped the blaze alive. One was taken to hospital.
“This is a horrible, horrible tragedy for anyone to experience,” Cpl. Jennifer Clarke told reporters on Sunday.
The home was fully engulfed in flames and the fire took several hours to put out, with help required from numerous departments in the area, according to the local deputy fire chief.
Police have requested help from the Nova Scotia Office of the Fire Marshal in investigating the cause of the blaze.
Clarke did not say whether the fire is considered to be suspicious.
Kathy Bourque, a municipal councillor in Pubnico Head, said the deaths are having a devastating impact on the small community.
“Everybody knows here everybody here,” she said in an interview. “When a tragic thing like this hits, it hits everybody.”
With files from CTV Atlantic
