A MURDER investigation has been launched after a 24-year-old man was stabbed in the chest.

Police and paramedics were called to a house in High Street, Ferryhill, County Durham, at 10pm last night where they found a man in the living room with a stab wound.

He was rushed to Darlington Memorial Hospital but later died. His identity has not yet been released.

Eleven people, a mix of men and women, aged 16 to 26 were arrested at the scene and are currently helping police with their inquiries at police stations across County Durham.

The house in High Street has been cordoned off to allow a forensic examination of the scene. Door to door inquiries are also being carried out.

A spokeswoman for Durham Police said this evening that a kitchen knife, thought to have been the murder weapon, had been recovered from the scene.