Police in Omagh have said that five bodies have been discovered in a house destroyed in a fire in the early hours of this morning.
Seven members of the same family are believed to have died.
The dead have been named locally as Arthur McElhill, his partner Lorraine and their five children.
Two people are unaccounted for but fire officers are working on the basis that their bodies are in the remains of the building.
The search has been called off for the night but will resume in the morning.
The cause of the blaze has not been established.
A senior police officer said there was no evidence at this stage to suggest that there was a definite crime.
Community leaders in Northern Ireland have been expressing their shock and sympathy to the relatives of the couple and their five children who are feared to have died in the fire.
The youngest child in the family was a baby just a few months old and the oldest was 13 years.
The recovery operation is expected to be long as the roof has been badly damaged and is close to collapsing.
Firefighters were called to the scene at the end of terrace house at Lammy Crescent in the town at around 5am this morning.
The roof of the house was already on fire when fire crews arrived at the scene, indicating that the fire started upstairs.
Paddy McGowan, an Independent councillor in Omagh and a former fireman, said neighbours were hammering on their windows and doors and that they could hear screaming from the house.
At one stage, a number of neighbours pushed a ladder up against the front window, but the fire was so intense that they had to withdraw.
It is understood two children from the family of seven attended St Conor's Primary School which is just metres from the house.
The family of seven is originally from Co Fermanagh.
