KENSCOFF (Haiti) • Fire swept through an unlicensed orphanage outside Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, killing 15 children, a judge told Agence France-Presse on Friday.

The building, which had not been authorised to operate as an orphanage since 2013, housed about 66 children, said magistrate Raymonde Jean Antoine.

The fire in Kenscoff, a town of 50,000 south of the capital, began shortly after 9pm on Thursday, she said.

Two children died in the blaze and 13 others died at a hospital as a result of smoke inhalation, said Judge Antoine.

According to one of the children, the fire was ignited by candles that some of them had lit in their rooms because the electricity was out, she told AFP.

An investigation is under way to determine the exact cause of the fire and identify the people responsible for the orphanage.

The two-storey building was in a state of complete disrepair, with bunk beds - some in deplorable condition - crammed into small rooms, a cramped staircase and only one usable exit door, an AFP reporter saw.

"The children's living conditions are truly, truly neglected. All we see are children living like animals," Judge Antoine said, adding that there were no fire extinguishers.

In 2017, Lumos, a non-governmental organisation founded by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling to reunite orphanage kids with their parents, reported that at least US$70 million (S$97 million) is received yearly by just a third of the orphanages in Haiti.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE