Selangor fire and rescue department operations division assistant director Ahmad Mukhlis Mukhtar said the children, aged between two and 11, were left in a locked house because their parents had gone to the hospital.

He said the department received a distress call at 11.15am and firefighters from the Sungai Buloh station were dispatched to the scene.

“The firefighters had to cut open the front grille gate to get into the house and saw that the couch in the living room was on fire.

“The team immediately extinguished the fire and found six children – four girls and twin boys – inside the house.

“The initial information we received indicated that the children were left at home because their mother had to take their father to the hospital,” Mukhlis said in a statement today.

He said the fire did not damage the structure of the building.

All the children escaped unhurt and the cause of the fire is still under investigation.