The serious fatal fire which occurred in Palmerston North overnight is currently being investigated by Palmerston North CIB and the Fire Service.
Emergency services were called to a house at Exeter Crescent just before 3:00am.
A child and an adult are believed to have died at the scene. Nine other people from the two-unit property were taken to hospital.
Police say the property has been completely destroyed.
Along with other agencies, Housing New Zealand say they are working to support the family with accommodation and other needs in this most difficult of times.
Housing New Zealand also stated this morning that, "We understand there have been reports that smoke alarms in the house may have been removed, this however has not been formally confirmed. We visited the house in November 2014 to undertake an annual tenancy inspection. At this time our tenancy manager noted that some of the smoke alarms had been removed and some of the alarms could do with replacing. We treat non-working smoke alarms as an urgent health and safety risk for our tenants, so we reinstalled 11 smoke alarms throughout the home."
Te Kāea will have more details tonight at 5:30 and 7pm.