Neighbors say the house was overcrowded, but the city says no official complaints about the home or its landlord were ever filed.

Two young children were killed in a house fire in Newark, New Jersey overnight, an Essex County spokesperson told FOX 5.

NEWARK — Two young girls are dead after a horrible fire in this city's South Ward overnight, according to officials. The Essex County Prosecutor's Office is investigating the fatal fire that killed two victims, according to Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Fennelly.

Two young children were killed after a fire broke out early late Saturday night in Newark, officials said. Reports of a blaze at the two-story home on Eckert Avenue — located in the Weequahic section of the city — came in just before midnight. A spokesperson for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed the victims were two young girls.

Update: Investigators believe the girls — ages 6 and 8 — may have accidentally sparked the blaze on the second floor of the home while playing with fire at one of their birthday parties, the Newark Fire Department said.

Two children died and eight people were injured in a house fire in Newark early Sunday morning, and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office is now investigating the fire.