A woman has died in a blaze that tore through a house in Staffordshire.

Two neighbours had to abandon a rescue attempt when they were overcome by smoke. The men, aged 30 and 53, were taken to hospital while a third man was treated by paramedics at the scene.

The dead woman, named locally only as Liz, is believed to have been in her sixties and living at the three-storey house in Thacker Drive, Lichfield, with her three daughters.

Fire crews were called at 6.50 last night to the house and experts were at the scene late into the night trying to establish the cause of the blaze.

Ambulance Service spokesman Murray McGregor said: “Crews arrived within four minutes of the call and were faced with a house that was well ablaze.

“They were told that two neighbours had gone into the property to try and get the householders out. Sadly, despite their efforts, the body of a middle-aged woman was recovered from the property.

“A middle-aged man who had been in the property was checked over at the scene but did not require hospital treatment.”

A neighbour said the woman had lived in the house with her daughters since the estate was built in 2006.