NEW YORK — A massive fire claimed the lives of a mother and her two daughters Friday morning in a Brooklyn apartment building, authorities said.

The fire started around 5:05 a.m. in a four-story building located at 587 Avenue of doors, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant district. According to information from the authorities, the incident took place in a third-floor apartment where firefighters found the three victims, a 50-year-old mother and her two daughters, 8 and 10 years old, who were transported to the hospital in critical condition with smoke inhalation.

Unfortunately, they were pronounced dead in hospital, authorities added.

The identity of the victims has not been released.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

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