The Latest: Family says 2 adults, 5 children died in fire

AKRON, Ohio – The Latest on a house fire in Akron that killed seven people (all times local):

6:40 p.m.

Family members say a couple and their five children died in early morning house fire in Akron.

Relatives identified the victims as 35-year-old Dennis Huggins, 38-year-old Angela Boggs, 14-year-old Jered Boggs, 6-year-old Daisia Huggins, 5-year-old Kyle Huggins, 3-year-old Alivia Huggins and 11-month-old Cameron Huggins.

Firefighters found the house engulfed in flames when they arrived shortly before 3 a.m. Monday.

Dennis Huggins’ 20-year-old son, Tyennys, said he became alarmed when he tried calling family members Monday morning to say he would be dropping by. He says he learned about the fire from a cousin.

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2:30 p.m.

A fire chief says seven people have died in a northeast Ohio house fire.

Akron Fire Chief Clarence Tucker didn’t say how many of the dead are children or adults. He spoke at a news conference outside the home in Akron, about 30 miles (48 kilometres) south of Cleveland.

Neighbors and a relative have said there were children inside the home where a fire was reported shortly before 3 a.m. Monday.

Tucker says the Akron Fire Department is working with the state fire marshal’s office and Akron police to determine the cause of the blaze. A fire marshal’s official says investigators have collected evidence.

The fire occurred just a block from a home where a man and a woman died in an April 2016 fire investigated as a possible arson.