Two infants were killed Friday in a fire that destroyed the wooden one-story house of 27-year-old Mitsunobu Kato in Urizura, Ibaraki Prefecture, police said.
Two charred bodies -- believed to be those of Kato's 3-year-old daughter, Mayumi, and 11-month-old son, Hayato -- were found in the ruins, the police said. The fire began at 3:25 p.m. and destroyed the entire house, they said.
Kato's wife Miho, 25, said she noticed the fire when she woke up from a nap with the two children but was too upset to take the infants out with her, according to the police.
Firefighters were unable to rescue the infants as the fire spread quickly. They recovered the two bodies after the fire was extinguished at around 3:55 p.m.