SOUTH BEND, Ind. >> Members of a northern Indiana community mourned and searched for answers Monday as they gathered for the funeral of six siblings killed in a house fire.

The Smith siblings — 11-year-old Angel, 10-year-old Demetris, 9-year-old Davida, 5-year-old Deontay, 4-year-old D’Angelo and 17-month-old Faith — died after a fire engulfed their South Bend home on Jan. 21. Six photographs of the children and six flower arrangements lined the stage for the funeral held at the at the Century Center convention space.

Fire officials said the siblings were trapped by flames on the second floor of the home in South Bend, a city of about 100,000 people located just south of the Michigan state line. Their father survived the blaze. He told firefighters that he tried to rescue the children but was forced back by heavy smoke and wind-driven flames.

— The Associated Press