London apartment building fire kills 3 children

LONDON, England (CNN) - A deadly fire broke out Friday afternoon in a high-rise apartment building in south London, killing six people, three of them children, London police said.

The fire started on the fourth floor at about 4:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. ET) then rapidly spread to the 11th floor, eventually engulfing 12 floors and gutting apartments along the way, fire officials said.

A 3-week-old baby, a 7-year-old child and an unidentified woman were pronounced dead at a hospital, London Metropolitan police said in a statement. Personnel declared three others dead at the scene: a 6-year-old child, a woman in her 30s and an unidentified adult, police reported.