A fire in Lachine Friday night has left two people dead and one in critical condition.
Authorities responded to a 911 call at 11 p.m. Friday for a fire in a 51-unit apartment building on Duffcourt Street, in Montreal’s Lachine borough, where firefighters found three people unconscious: a 40-year-old woman, an eight-year-old girl and a four-year-old girl.
Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant said they were immediately rushed to the hospital, where the 40-year-old and the eight-year-old died. As of Sunday morning, the four-year-old remains in critical condition.
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There were also two 13-year-old twin boys in the apartment who jumped from the second-floor balcony. They suffered minor injuries and were brought to the hospital. Everyone else in the building was evacuated and there were no other injuries.
Montreal police have confirmed that the 40-year-old woman was the mother of the four children.
Police said the case was transferred to the arson unit, where investigators found the fire was likely caused by a discarded cigarette that was left burning.
Operations chief Matthew Griffith said the fire required 70 firefighters to be called to the scene.
Griffith said there was a smoke alarm in the apartment, but whether it was functional or not has yet to be determined.
Spokesperson for the Lester B. Pearson School Board Jim Hendry has confirmed that the eight-year-old girl who passed away was a student at Maple Grove Elementary School in Lachine.
–With files from The Canadian Press