A father and five children between the ages of four and 11 are understood to have died in a fire at a farmhouse in Wales.

Dyfed-Powys Police confirmed said they were killed in the fire at the remote property in Powys when it broke out after midnight on Monday.

Three other children - aged 13, 12 and 10 - managed to escape the blaze unharmed.

The dead man has been named locally as David Cuthbertson and is thought to have been in his 60s.

Superintendent Jon Cummins, of Dyfed-Powys Police, said: "Based on current information available to us, we are working on the hypothesis that one adult male and five children, aged between four and 11 years old, are unaccounted for and believed to be deceased within the house.

"Due to the severity of damage at the scene we are unable at this stage to identify any of the deceased."

Mr Cummins said the cause of the fire was being investigated but at the moment it remained "unexplained".

He added: "Dyfed-Powys Police is continuing to investigate and deal with the tragic house fire that occurred at Poityn Farm, Llangammarch Wells, Powys, shortly after midnight on Monday October 30th.

"Specialist scientists and fire investigators continue to assess the scene, which is very complex and perilous."