Authorities are investigating the case of an apartment fire that killed two young boys, aged 4 years and 8 months respectively, in central Athens on Easter Sunday.

The two brothers were found dead in a ground-floor apartment in Koliatsou Square which caught on fire at around 11.25 a.m.

The cause of the blaze was not clear.

According to reports, neighbors helped the boys’ mother save her 13-year-old daughter from the blaze by smashing down the apartment’s front door.

Witnesses said that they saw the woman sitting on the front step of her apartment when they noticed smoke coming out of the home.

Firefighters added that they were not aware of the two boys being in the house until they came across the burnt bodies.

The mother, a Nigerian national, was taken to the hospital with breathing problems but doctors described her condition as not being critical.

Police said the father, also a Nigerian national, was absent, as he is currently serving a prison sentence.