The fire occurred in a settlement in the town of Velky Saris near the eastern Slovak city of Presov, around 300km northeast of the capital Bratislava.

“The fire in a settlement claimed the lives of four little children and one adult,” Velky Saris’s mayor Viliam Kall said on Facebook.

“Eight huts have burned down and the unfortunate incident affected around 30 people,” he said.

Eleven adults and seven children were evacuated to a local community centre.

The TVnoviny.sk news site said one of the victims was a baby.

“Unfortunately, we found five lifeless people,” ambulance spokesman Petra Klimesova told AFP.

She said rescuers had also treated a girl with an acute stress reaction at the site.

Voluntary firefighters from the nearby village of Zupcany said they were sent to the site shortly after 10.30pm yesterday.

“It was a fire of simple housing huts. Unfortunately, while putting the fire out we found the burned remains of five people,” they said on Facebook.