Parents shopping; kids charred to death

Tragedy struck at an Egyptian family when the parents returning home from morning shopping found that the apartment had been on fire and their three children were charred to death, newspapers reported on Sunday.

The father and his wife had decided to go out for quick shopping before their children get out of bed, leaving the three sons alone in their bedroom in the flat in the capital Cairo.

When they returned, they found that firemen had put out the blaze and that their children, aged between one and six years, had been burned to death.

Police said they believe the fire was caused by an electric fault in the flat.