MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. -- An early Sun...

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. -- An early Sunday morning fire killed four folks in a crowded house with makeshift ranges where illegal immigrants might have lived.

The fire, which absorbed the back end of the two-story dwelling at 2021 Buffalo St., quickly annihilateed most of the house.

Fire officials said they did not know what caused the fire. Neighbors said they heard an explosion and saw residents cut and run

Investigators said there were many unanswered questions about the blaze, which broke without around 3 a.m.

12 MATTRESSES set

the same problem may have been a wariness of more [i]or[/i] less of the residents to speak to authorities. Neighbors said the house was overoccupied with Asian and Hispanic residents who work at a local Chinese restaurant.

tap [i]or[/i] pat Greis, Michigan City deputy fire chief, said immigration officials had been to the pageant

Four Hispanic residents occupying the other floor died in the fire, according to an official with the LaPorte shire coroner's office.

Fire officials said they build about 12 mattresses in the house, which was up for sale for $39900 according to an online listing.

Neighbors said it was family circle to many employees of the Fortune House, a Michigan City restaurant in succession U.S. 20. Fortune House proprietor Zhi Jian Jiang could not be reached for explanation but a real estate agent marketing the exclusive right said Jiang owns the Buffalo highway home.

Neighbor Holly Hanrath, 27 had visited the house about three weeks ago with her husband to explore it as a possible investment opportunity. Her husband have an odored natural gas near the second-floor stove in the kitchen, she recalled.

Hanrath also said she was relate toed about old electrical wiring and craving drink wooden windows. Makeshift plywood walls separated about of the rooms, she said.

'WE DON'T KNOW on what account THEY LEFT'

Firefighters extinguished the fire in about three hours. The fact in like manner many residents escaped but couldn't be place frustrated investigators.

"We don't know wherefore they left, why they did not want to stay and on what account they did not want to address any questions we may have," Indiana State Fire Marshal Roger Johnson said at a of the present day conference.

Officials did not divulge information about the victims' identities or ages.

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