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Autopsies being done on victims of New Jersey shore motel fire that killed 4, injured 8

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Firefighters investigate an early morning fire at the Mariner's Cove Hotel in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. on Friday, March 21, 2014. An early morning fire killed three people at the Jersey shore motel whose residents included Superstorm Sandy victims who were staying there because their homes remain uninhabitable nearly a year and a half after the storm, officials said. Three other people were critically injured in the blaze. Authorities said several other people may be unaccounted for. Investigators are interviewing motel management to determine how many people were staying there when the fire broke out. The motel's office was destroyed and most records were lost. (AP Photo/David Gard) (The Associated Press)

Firefighters investigate an early morning fire at the Mariner's Cove Hotel in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. on Friday, March 21, 2014. An early morning fire killed three people at the Jersey shore motel whose residents included Superstorm Sandy victims who were staying there because their homes remain uninhabitable nearly a year and a half after the storm, officials said. Three other people were critically injured in the blaze. Authorities said several other people may be unaccounted for. Investigators are interviewing motel management to determine how many people were staying there when the fire broke out. The motel's office was destroyed and most records were lost. (AP Photo/David Gard) (The Associated Press)

Firefighters work to put out a fire at Mariner's Cove Inn in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. early Friday, March 21, 2014. An early morning fire killed three people at the Jersey shore motel whose residents included Superstorm Sandy victims who were staying there because their homes remain uninhabitable nearly a year and a half after the storm, officials said. Three other people were critically injured in the blaze. Authorities said several other people may be unaccounted for. Investigators are interviewing motel management to determine how many people were staying there when the fire broke out. The motel's office was destroyed and most records were lost. (AP Photo/The Asbury Park Press, Tom Spader ) NO SALES (The Associated Press)

Autopsies are being conducted on the four people who died in a fire at a Jersey shore motel that housed some victims of Superstorm Sandy.

A spokesman for the Ocean County prosecutor's office says the medical examiner's office is trying to identify the victims and determine how they died in the blaze at the Mariner's Cove Motor Inn in Point Pleasant Beach.

Arson investigators are also combing through the debris to determine what caused the fire, an effort that's expected to take several days.

About 40 people were staying at the motel when the fire started Friday morning. Some had lost their homes during the superstorm.

Eight others were injured, three critically. They include a woman who sought refuge in a running shower as she waited to be rescued.