2 adults, 5 children are killed in Ky. fire

The Associated Press

GRAY, Ky. — Fire erupted Saturday at a rural Kentucky home, killing two adults and five children inside, a coroner said.

Knox County Coroner Mike Blevins said Saturday afternoon that the adult victims found inside the ranch-style home were a woman and her boyfriend. The woman was the mother of three of the children who died, while two other children were from another family, he said.

Further details about their identities were being withheld until relatives were notified.

The remains were sent to Frankfort for autopsies, which were likely to take place on Tuesday, Blevins said.

Blevins and Kentucky State Police said the cause of the blaze was still under investigation. Arson investigators were at the scene, but officials said no foul play was suspected.

Knox County is tucked into the southeastern corner of Kentucky in the eastern coal field region. Gray is about halfway between Lexington, Ky., and Knoxville, Tenn.

Troopers said someone called 911 at 9:57 a.m. Saturday. Firefighters stayed on the scene until the fire was out at 1 p.m.

On Jan. 9, four children and their father died in an early morning blaze in Jonancy, in Pike County in the Appalachian region of the state — about 2 1/2 hours east of Gray. The mother of those children survived with serious burns. The family had been sleeping near an electric space heater when the fire started, and the space heater likely started the fire, officials said.