Seven people burnt to death in their wooden house at Alwynhoogte in Valencia, Eastern Cape police said on Monday

Spokesperson Superintendent Priscilla Naidu said they were apparently asleep when the house caught fire early on Sunday.

"It is believed that a paraffin lamp was burning near the couch and it may have fallen and set the house alight," she said.

Naidu said the identities, ages, genders and names of the deceased were not known yet.

"Some family members are expected to come to the police on Tuesday, then it will be clearer who the deceased were," she said.

Sapa