A blaze in Lima’s Southern La Victoria district has claimed the lives of ten members of a single family, including five children aged between three and 15, according to police reports.

The fire ignited shortly after midnight, described by Gen Oscar Arriola of the Peruvian National Police as rapid and fiercely spread through the home’s extensive mattress‑making materials.

Victims comprised four adults—aged 29, 35, 42 and 72—plus a fifth person whose age remains unreported. Two residents sustained injuries as the fire unfolded.

Investigators are probing whether the fire was deliberately started, as the house’s occupants, who manufactured mattresses and owned electric motorcycles, had recently faced extortion demands and threats from unknown parties.

Neighbors testified that, 03:00 local time, illicit batteries on motorcycles parked outside were set ablaze, allowing flames to penetrate the flammable fabrics used in mattress production.

Seventeen family members were inside when the furnace of flames erupted; seven managed to flee. Infobae reports that the others were unable to escape the swirling inferno.

Police later provided a detailed list: children aged 3, 6, 6, 8 and 15; adults aged 29, 35, 42, 72, and an unnamed fifth adult.

Arriola noted that victims’ bodies were incinerated beyond recognition, adding to the tragedy’s horror.

In a statement to the public, the National Police said, “Today, all of Peru falls silent, in deep mourning for lives lost to this catastrophe.”