A grief-stricken grandmother told yesterday how her dying daughter shielded her child from the flames in a house blaze which left three dead.

Rose Yates described how she tried unsuccessfully to reach her three grown-up children upstairs as an inferno swept through their home at Pelham Street, Middlesbrough, in the early hours of Saturday.

Her son Lee, 18, and daughters Joanne, 22, and Gail 27, were killed, but Gail's two-year-old daughter, Megan, survived the blaze.

Grandmother Rose, 45, and her partner Eddie Rainbow, 57, were sleeping downstairs when the fire broke out.

Rose said: "The sound of breaking glass woke me up and I thought someone was breaking in. I got to the bottom of the stairs and saw the flames coming from the back bedroom.

"I tried calling 999 but was panicking so much I couldn't dial properly.

"I tried to go upstairs but it was too hot.

"I shouted at Joanne to wake up and wake the others up. Joanne was shouting at them but they couldn't get out."

Passers-by Thomas Whittaker and Shaun Robson raised the alarm then risked their own lives trying to save those trapped.

When firefighters reached the bedroom, they found Megan protected by her mother's body.

The toddler was pulled alive from the inferno but suffered severe burns to her arms and legs. She is now recovering in hospital from a skin graft.

Rose said: "She was a great mother. She must have realised what was going to happen and she protected Megan. That's why she survived."

Megan will live with Gail's sister, Kerry, when she leaves hospital.