Colonel Le Chi Cao said neighbours awoke at around 2:30am to the smell of smoke and saw flames shooting up into the night sky. They did not hear an explosion nor did they hear any screams for help.

An estimated 50 firefighters responded to the scene and knocked down the flames in about 10 minutes but not before it claimed the lives of the four people.

Colonel Cao said the family apparently died from smoke inhalation. An investigation is ongoing and police are treating it as ‘suspicious.’