The community is still reeling from the events on Tuesday morning when firefighters found five bodies after a blaze at a family home - and revealed they were searching for two more.

And then came yesterday's bombshell - that the blaze may not have been accidental, and that police had launched a murder investigation.

Suddenly, a tragedy had become an atrocity.

Inside the house as a top policeman spoke, the bodies of Lorraine McGovern, Arthur McElhill and three of their children had not been removed from the scene, while a painstaking search was under way for the bodies of two of their children who were still missing.

The five children were 13-year-old Caroline, Sean (7), Bellina (4), Clodagh (18 months) and baby James.

The deaths of two adults and five children, about whom neighbours spoke so fondly, was enough of a shock for any community to contend with.

But as the search for bodies went on amid the rubble, it slowly dawned on people that police were not entirely satisfied that this blaze, with all its tragic consequences, was an accident.

And that was confirmed when the PSNI called in a fire expert and said they believed mass murder had been committed 4 Lammy Crescent.

There was stunned silence as Chief Superintendent Norman Baxter said a significant amount of accelarent had been found, and described the probe as " one of the most tragic and devastating murder inquiries the PSNI has ever encountered".

The episode has horrified the close-knit community, members of which had tried so hard to save the family's lives.

Traumatised neighbours told how they heard screams and tried to rescue the family, putting ladders against windows.

Then they paid their respects as the bodies still lay inside the house yesterday, where the rain teemed down as firefighters continued their search for the two missing children.

Stunned and disbelieving that such tragedy could visit their doorstep, neighbours made their way to the scene to leave flowers, messages and poems, and to share memories, especially about the happy children they seemed so fond of.

Among them were cards left by grandparents of the dead children.

Eoin Doyle, area commander of the Fire and Rescue Service, described the trauma such situations pose for firefighters.

He said: "It is tragic, words can't describe it, but we carry on - it's what we signed up for."