Two toddlers killed in New York City apartment fire

[April 14, 2016]    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two sisters, aged 18 months and 2 years, died in fire on Wednesday inside their public housing complex apartment in the Bronx, while their mother was across the street at a laundromat, New York City fire officials and local media reported.

Several other people, including three firefighters, sustained minor injuries, the fire department said. The two sisters were discovered inside the third floor unit and rushed to a hospital where they were pronounced dead, the department said.

Witnesses told the New York Times and New York Daily News that the girls' mother was across the street doing laundry and she frantically tried to return home as firefighters arrived.

The girls were alone in the apartment when the blaze began, the Daily News reported.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

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