A family of five died in a fire that burned their home in Limassol on Saturday morning, as relatives spoke in horror about how they tried to help but were unable to.

Authorities were alerted of the blaze shortly after 4am, and by 4:08am, four fire trucks were at the scene.

By then, the second-floor home was engulfed in flames.

The remains of all five family members were found after the fire had been put out.

Those were the father, aged 35, the mother, aged 32 and their children aged seven, three and two.

The home was connected to a lower floor, where other family members lived, by a staircase.

Authorities found the bodies in the childrens’ bedrooms, and believe the parents were trying to help them.

Considering they never managed to leave the bedrooms, experts so far believe they may have lost consciousness due to the fumes.

A relative told Politis he smelled fire and banged on their door but no one opened up. He smashed the glass balcony door in an attempt to go inside but the flames prevented him from doing so.

“I couldn’t see, it was filled with smoke,” he said.

The exact cause of the fire is yet to be determined but one possibility in an electric short circuit in the living room.

“They had a heater, a safe one with a glass front. A week ago they had a different one, a quartz heater but they got rid of it,” the relative said.

“They got the one with the glass front which is supposed to be safer.”

Authorities believe a plausible scenario is that the heater was left on in the living room to keep the house warm, sparking a fire that blocked the main exit – which was the staircase that led downstairs.

The house had undergone some modifications, with plasterboards installed to close off the balcony and transform it into a bedroom.

Fire service spokesman Andreas Kettis said the house was constructed in part with timber, masonry and plasterboard.

“The fire in the house when we arrived had spread across all the rooms. There was immediate intervention by our members using breathing apparatus and water hoses to extinguish the fire while checking for trapped persons,” he said.

In statements at the scene, Limassol CID chief Lefteris Kyriakou said after being notified of the fire “a police patrol arrived and tried to enter the house.

“However, due to the extent of the fire, they were unable to approach. The fire brigade was brought to the scene, which extinguished the flames. Afterwards, members of the police visited the scene and found the bodies of five persons on the second floor of the house: a couple and three children.”