A neighbour of a house caught in a fire which saw two people including a child die has recalled how local residents tried to rescue the occupants.

Ellie, aged 20, who declined to give her surname, described how she ran up and down the street, shouting to raise the alarm after the fire broke out in Grangetown, near Middlesbrough, on Wednesday morning.

She also spoke about how she held the hand of a crying woman who had jumped from an upstairs window, staying with her until paramedics arrived.

“The entire house was scorching,” she said.

“I couldn’t get near the front of the house, it was that hot.”

She believed that a girl was one of the casualties.

Firefighters were seen damping down the smoking roof of the home which has been wrecked by the fire.

A ladder remained propped against a rear upstairs window of the family home.

Another neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “My daughter heard shouting and screaming this morning.

“The dogs were barking.”

They said a family lived at the house, adding: “I don’t know the people who live there, we just say hello when we walk past.”

The fire occurred less than a mile from the site of a crash on the A66 which killed seven people on Saturday.

Two men, aged 23 and 31, have been arrested on suspicion of murder and they remain in police custody following the blaze at an end-of-terrace property in Birchington Avenue, Grangetown.

Officers were called to the property at 5:23am on Wednesday and confirmed two people had died, “including one child”, the force said.

They have yet to be formally identified, the force added.

A 48-year-old woman remains in a critical condition in the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle.

Three other people suffered injuries which are believed to be non life-threatening.

Redcar and Cleveland Local Policing Commander, Superintendent Emily Harrison, said: “As we continue to investigate this morning’s tragic incident, we continue to support the families of those who have sadly died as a result.

“Our thoughts remain with those families and with everyone involved.”

The force have not ruled out a link between the blaze and the crash which killed two police officers and five young men.