BAKU, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Five people, including four children, were killed Wednesday morning in a fire at a private house in Gushcu village in the western Azerbaijani district of Dashkesan, the country's Ministry of Emergency said.

Five bodies, one believed to be of a woman, the other three of her children and other child family member, were found at the scene by emergency and firefighting crews.

The three-room house and a 10-ton haystack in the yard were completely destroyed in the fire before it was extinguished, the ministry said in a statement.

Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the fire.