Fire kills three young children in Japan

HOKKAIDO, Japan, June 14 (UPI) -- Two young girls and their brother died Monday in an early-morning fire in a wooden apartment building in Hokkaido, authorities said.

The three children were asleep in the same ground-level room as grandparents who were babysitting, police said.

Authorities identified the three victims killed in the blaze as Risa Shiraishi, 6, her sister Emiri, 4, and their brother Takuto, 2,

The grandparents, Yoshiharu Watanabe, 71, his wife Mieko, 68, escaped, along with their 3-year-old granddaughter, Chinatsu. They were taken to a hospital.