We love you': Candlelight vigil for children killed in fire as mourners release balloons with victims' ages on

Hundreds of mourners lit candles and released red lanterns and balloons as they held a vigil for four young children who died in a horrific house fire.

Parents brought their children as they paid their respects to victims Demi Pearson, 15, her brother Brandon, eight, and sisters Lacie, seven, and Lia, three.

The siblings died after flames tore through their home in Salford, Greater Manchester, shortly after 5am on Monday.

Their mother Michelle Pearson remains in a critical condition in hospital and the family are "dreading" the day they will have to break to her the "awful news".

Mourners carrying pink and blue balloons - reading "You'll be missed" - stopped traffic in Jackson treet, where the incident took place, and left tributes near the home still cordoned off, the  Lining the pavement with tea-lights, flowers and written messages, the mourners released red lanterns and hundreds of balloons from Saint Mary’s Park for the young victims.

Among the most touching additions to the vigil were the numbered balloons - 3, 7, 8 and 14 to represent the children’s ages.

Friends of Demi wore "We Love You Demi P" jumpers as they gave final farewells to their young friend.Across the road in Saint Mary’s Park, tea-lights spelling out the Pearson name lit up the dark street.

Led by Rev Alan Kennedy, the vigil - where songs were sung and the Lords prayer recited - began shortly after the crowds came together.

Rev Kennedy, who runs the local Churches Together community group, said: “Events like these show how the community can come together.

"People have come out as families here - it is nice to see all the children because, after all, the victims were children.”

After the vigil, people shared refreshments and wrote messages of remembrance in a book in a small community centre near the family home.