Bengaluru: Two children died as a fire broke out at a makeshift shed at Kothanur in the north eastern part of Bengaluru, police said.

According to police, the incident happened on Monday as the siblings were playing at the shed.

The deceased are a girl and a boy of three and five years of age respectively. Their parents -- daily wage workers from Raichur district -- had gone out to work and the children were left behind with their grandmother as usual, police said.

The grandmother had reportedly stepped out to use the toilet when the fire broke, they said, adding that efforts by neighbours and others to save the children were in vain.

The children suffered from asphyxiation due to heavy smoke and burn injuries, police said.

While the boy died on the spot, the girl succumbed on the way to hospital, they said.

Police said the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. The burning of clothes inside the shed had resulted in dense smoke. Investigation will be conducted, they added.