Child playing with lighter may have started fatal Queens fire, police say

A Saturday night basement fire that killed two Queens children may have been started when one of the children began playing with a lighter, police said on Sunday.

The fire, which broke out before midnight Saturday in a basement bedroom in Bayswater, killed Jai'Launi Tinglin and his half-sister, Ayini Tinglin, both 4. Both children were pronounced dead at St. John's Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway. The New York Police Department said the preliminary cause of death for both was smoke inhalation.

Investigators looking into the cause of the fire are eyeing the possibility that one of the children was playing with a lighter in a room where their grandfather slept.

The fire began at the foot of the grandfather's bed, where he was sleeping, police said.

Another girl -- Jai'Launi's twin sister -- was taken to St. John's Episcopal Hospital for treatment of injuries, while the children's 63-year-old grandfather was taken to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow for treatment of burns to his face and hands.

Police said the grandfather was able to rescue the twin girl, but couldn't locate the other two children in the smoke-filled basement.

A 55-year-old woman suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Jamaica, Queens, authorities said.

Police did not say on Sunday what the woman's relationship was to the other victims.

The three surviving victims all were listed in stable condition Sunday morning.

The family had recently moved to the Bay 30th Street home from another state, police said.