4 children killed in fire on Chicago\\\'s south side

Four children were killed early Monday in a fire on Chicago's South Side and their mother and her boyfriend were critically injured, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said. The children included a 5-year-old and a 15- or 16-year-old girl and two boys’ ages 10 and 14, Langford said. The blaze started about 3:30 a.m. in an 18-unit apartment building in the city's Roseland neighborhood. Two of the children were found in a bedroom and two were in a closet, he said. An older child was found on top of a younger child, Langford said. ‘It appears one was trying to protect the other,’ Langford said. About 50 other residents escaped the fire, authorities said, according to AP.