LONDON 

Police have launched a murder investigation after four people died in a house fire in Bradford, West Yorkshire on Wednesday.

Officers from West Yorkshire Police were called early hours by the fire service to reports of a house fire at a property on Westbury Road, Bradford.

A 29-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene while three children -- two girls aged nine and one, and a five-year-old boy -- were taken to hospital.

However, all three succumbed to injuries at the hospital, the police said in a statement, adding that a 39-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder and taken to hospital with critical injuries.

"Early enquiries show that the fire was started deliberately, and we have arrested one man on suspicion of murder. He is seriously ill in hospital today as a result of injuries caused by the fire," said Detective Chief Inspector Stacey Atkinson at West Yorkshire Police.