Fire tore through a house in Devon and a boy of three and his teenage brother and sister died.

A man, believed to be their father, raced back into the burning house to try to rescue the children. The man was treated for injuries and released along with another child. The dead teenagers, a 17-year-old girl and her 18-year-old brother, and the three-year-old boy were among eight people in the terraced house in Honiton, Devon, when the fire broke out on Friday.

Air ambulance flew them to Exeter hospital where they died with family at their bedside. The boy died in a Bristol burns unit several hours later.

Seven people in the house were from one family and the eighth was a friend staying over. The house is near the town’s fire station but area commander Nick Manning said the blaze was “well developed” when firefighters arrived minutes after the alarm was raised at 7.30am.

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall police said: “Our thoughts are with the family at this time and investigations are ongoing.”