A TEENAGER died in a house fire which left her younger brother and sister seriously injured.

Jane Walmsley, 13, brother Wesley, 10, and six-year-old girl sister Jordan, were pulled from their smoke-filled home on Lister Street, Accrington, by firefighters in the early hours of yesterday.

The youngsters, who were in the house on their own, were overcome by fumes from a blaze which started in the kitchen and their hearts stopped.

Firefighters battled to resuscitate the children on the roadside until paramedics arrived.

The trio were taken to Blackburn Infirmary but Jane, a pupil at Moorhead High School, Accrington, was pronounced dead on arrival. Wesley and Jordan were transferred to Booth Hall Children's Hospital, Manchester. Jordan, a pupil at Hyndburn Park Primary School, Accrington, is in intensive care, but Wesley, a former pupil at St Nicholas School in Accrington, is on a normal ward.

The hospital refused to give the children's conditions at the request of their mother, Dawn, 32.

She was believed to be visiting a friend when the fire started at about 2am. Dawn's other daughter, Sarah, 11, was staying with a relative.

Next-door neighbour Mrs Aziz Ghan raised the alarm after smelling smoke and neighbours tried to get into the blazing home before firefighters using breathing apparatus broke down the front door.

They found Jane in the back bedroom and discovered Wesley and Jordan on the floor in the downstairs front room.

Neighbour Kelly Mason, of Lister Street, said: "There was a lot of smoke coming out of the back of the house. There was a big crowd and people were trying to get inside the house to rescue the children.

"Dawn was hysterical. She was crying and screaming that she wanted her children. It was really upsetting."

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