Seven children dead after portable hot plate malfunctions

File picture shows firefighters working at the scene of a blaze that burned for several hours in the Staten Island borough of New York City on June 5, 2014. -

NEW YORK: Seven children from the same family died Saturday when their New York home was engulfed in flames after a portable cooker malfunctioned, authorities said.

The so-called hot plate, which is a small electrical heating element, may have been left on to keep food warm because of Orthodox Jewish customs that bar cooking on the Sabbath, New York fire commissioner Daniel Nigro told a news conference.          “This is the largest tragedy by fire that this city has had in seven years,” Nigro said in comments reported by The New York Times.