Five people killed in New Orleans house fire

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Five people, including three children, died in a fire early on Tuesday in a New Orleans home with no working smoke detectors, fire officials said. A man was able to escape the blaze that killed his mother, girlfriend and three children, ages 7, 11 and 12, the New Orleans Fire Department said in a statement. Firefighters found an elderly woman in a downstairs bedroom and another woman with the three children in a second-floor bedroom, according to the statement. The man told fire investigators that the smell of smoke awoke him, but he was unable to get his family members out of the two-story home. "This is a tragedy of unspeakable proportion," said fire Superintendent Timothy McConnell, stressing the need for homes to have functioning smoke detectors. (Reporting by Jonathan Kaminsky; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Jim Loney)