A mother and her two daughters have been killed after a fire broke out in an apartment building in New York this morning.
Authorities have confirmed 40-year-old mum and her two daughters, 10 and 8, were rushed to New York City Health + Hospitals, Woodhull for smoke inhalation after the fire broke out in the Brooklyn apartment building.
They were pronounced dead when they got to hospital.
The fire broke out in the third-floor apartment at around 5.05am today, Friday April 28, in the four storey building on Gates Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Authorities confirmed several residents, including children, managed to escape in time. Three others are reportedly being treated for non life-threatening injuries.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated, however authorities believe it may have started in the kitchen.
A downstairs neighbour told Gothamist: "I was asleep, all I remember was being told there was a fire, so I ran outside. It was just smoke."
Another witness told News 12: "I came upstairs, and there was the fire. There were two long ladders up on the building and the fire department was inside trying to get everybody. A lot of smoke".
Videos shared on the Citizen App, which allows residents to share real time updates on what's happening in the city, show a fire service ladder stretched to the building as a firefighter enters through a window.
The fire was repotedly under control by around 5.45am.
In a press conference, the Fire Department (FDNY) said they did not have a cause for the fire but believe it began in the kitchen and an investigation has been launched.
Chief John Sarrocco said: "At approximately five o'clock we got a call for a fire in the building right behind me.
"We encountered heavy fire on arrival, the truck units actually passed the fire to get to the rear bedrooms and rescue three patients out of the bedrooms.
"One was an adult, two were paediatric. Brought them out of the building, with EMS we performed advanced life support at the scene and transported those people in critical condition to area hospitals.
"Unfortunately at the hospitals those three patients succumbed to their injuries."
The fire service are remaining on the scene along with the Red Cross in order to assist those who have been impacted by the fire.
The patients had some burns as well as suffering from "smoke inhalation", and were not breathing when fire crews arrived.
FDNY commissioner Laura Kavanagh said firefighters were on the scene in three minutes, but the fire was "very advanced" when they arrived.
Fire officials confirmed the building had sustained some water damage as a result.
Kavanagh told the press conference there was a hard-wired smoke alarm in the apartment, however an investigation is ongoing as to whether it was working or not.
The three victims have yet to be identified while police track down family to notify them of their passing.
