MONAVILLE - An early morning house fire at Monaville has claimed the lives of five people.

West Virginia State Police Trooper C.W. Seacrist said this morning that five people were confirmed dead in the fire that began around 5 a.m. on Lopez Lane.

“We know that five people are dead, three children, a woman and an older male,” Seacrist said. “The State Fire Marshal is investigating.”

The identities of the five victims were not known as of press time.

City of Logan Fire Chief Scott Beckett said he got the structure fire call at 5:03 a.m. and by the time his firemen arrived on the scene, the home was fully engulfed.

“When we got there, fire was venting through the roof and the front,” Beckett said. “It was about 30 minutes into the fire before we could confirm anyone was in there. Due to the magnitude of the fire, they were gone before we got here. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and this is the worst set of fatalities I’ve seen.”

The house was formerly owned by Carlos Lopes. A man at the scene who identified himself as a family member of one of the victims, said the man had moved in with the woman resident a month ago. He said the woman and her three children had moved there in August of 2008.

“We were down here last night,” Timothy Meade said. “I came down to bring (the victim) some cigarettes.”

Meade said the children were two young boys and a young girl.

A person at the scene said the children were Omar Grade School students.

Several City of Logan firefighters and firemen from the Main Island Creek Fire Department worked to extinguish the fire.

State Route 44 was shut down for nearly two hours.

A firefighter on the scene said he would estimate the house was more than 60 years old. He said it was formerly a company house owned by Island Creek Coal and was possibly built in the early 1900s.

The cause of the fire was not yet known. Three state fire marshals were on the scene investigating at 9 a.m.

Several state police troopers from the Logan detachment were on the scene to assist in the investigation.

Mingo County Coroner Mike Casey, who also assists with Logan County cases, was on scene working with investigators.