Coroner releases names of 4 girls killed in Indiana fire

FLORA, Ind. (AP) - Authorities have released the names of four young sisters killed in a house fire that also injured their mother and two law enforcement officers.

Carroll County Coroner Jay Dee Cree identified the girls as 11-year-old Keyana Davis, 9-year-old Keyara Phillips, 7-year-old Kerriele McDonald and 5-year-old Kionnie Welch. He listed their preliminary cause of death as asphyxiation due to smoke inhalation.

The girls died early Monday when a fire swept the apartment where they lived with their mother in a house divided into two apartments in the town of Flora, about 60 miles north of Indianapolis..

The children's mother was injured, as were a sheriff's deputy and Flora police officer who tried to rescue the children.

Firefighters retrieved the girls, but could not revive them.

The fire's cause remains under investigation.