Sheriff: 3 dead, 1 critically injured in Mora fire

Mora fire
Firefighters try to contain an apartment fire on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011 in Mora, Minn. The sheriff's department says the apartment fire was reported about 7 a.m. Thursday. Three people were reported dead.
AP Photo/Kanabec County Times, Alicia Wicklund

Three people are dead and another critically injured after an apartment fire in the east-central Minnesota town of Mora.

Kanabec County Sheriff Steve Schulz says two adults and one juvenile are dead.

Deputies were called just before 7:15 a.m. Thursday and found the four-plex engulfed in flames. Deputies helped safely evacuate three people from the complex but later discovered there were multiple victims.

An adult was airlifted to a Twin Cities hospital in critical condition.

Names of the victims have not been released. The Minnesota State Fire Marshal and the Kanabec County sheriff's office are investigating the cause of the blaze.

Mora is a town of about 3,700 located 70 miles north of Minneapolis.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)