Thirteen children have died after a blaze swept through an orphanage in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.

The orphanage, a wooden structure built in the 1930s, was home to about 100 disabled children.

Police said four or five other children were still unaccounted for after the fire, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The remaining residents were reported to have been evacuated from the building unharmed.

Two people have been taken to hospital.

Children asleep

The fire engulfed the building as the children, aged between six and 16 years old, slept in their beds.

As many of them are physically or mentally disabled, some had difficulty escaping as the fire took hold.

"It was terrible. It was dark and we had to run through the rooms looking for children," Martin, a security guard on duty near the home, told the AFP news agency.

"I managed to get six children aged between six and eight out," he said.

Part of the wooden building was destroyed in the blaze and a witness told AFP that fire-fighters battled for two-and-a-half hours to put out the fire.

The country's health minister denied reports that up to 60 children had to be taken to hospital after the fire.

A police spokesman told AFP that the fire may have been caused by the many electrical heaters used in the old building, which had no central heating.

PHOTO CAPTION

The fire overtook the building as the children slept. (Reuters)