New Year's Eve horror as woman in her 20s is killed in house fire

A young woman has died after a fire tore through her home in Oxford this morning.

The 25-year-old, who has not been named, died in hospital following the house blaze in the city's suburb of Headington.

Police were alerted to the address at 6.25am where they found the woman and rushed her to hospital, The Oxford Mail reports.

Despite the efforts of clinicians, she could not be saved. 

Neighbours told the newspaper that the victim was 'a very private and shy girl' who was 'lovely'. 

They added: '[It is] pretty shocking to have something like this happen on New Years Eve.' 

READ MORE: POLICE PROBE CROYDON HOUSE HORROR BLAZE THAT LEFT THREE POLISH MEN DEAD 

Another neighbour, Shanice, 27, who lives several doors away, told reporters she was woken by the sound of fire engines.

She said she didn't know the victim personally but added she was 'always smiling and saying hello'.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman told media the blaze was 'unexplained but non-suspicious'.

The tragedy is the latest in a series of deadly fires to break out this festive season. 

Police are investigating the cause of a house fire in Croydon that left three Polish men dead and two others injured. 

Emergency services rushed to the two-storey, end-of-terrace house on Sanderstead Road just after 11pm on Friday, December 29, where two men, one of whom is thought to have been in his 40s, were declared dead. 

A third man, in his 30s, was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries and died on Saturday afternoon. 

Two other men took themselves to hospital. One has been discharged, but the other, thought to be in his 30s, is suffering life-threatening injuries.

Elsewhere, a chapel was set alight in Hazelwood, near Skipton in North Yorkshire, late on Christmas Eve after worshippers failed to put out their candle at the end of Midnight Mass.

Fire engines rushed to the scene nearly 12 hours after the service - where the caller was unsure when the fire occurred.

When they arrived at 11.46am on Christmas Day, crews extinguished the blaze which had damaged the font, carpet and pews.