Three young women were killed when a fire swept through a residential building in east China's Shandong Province Wednesday morning, local authorities said.

The fire broke out at about 12:40 a.m. Wednesday in a passage of a residential building in the Jiangjia residential area in Bincheng District of the city of Binzhou, according to the municipal fire brigade.

Three young women, later identified as tenants of the building, died in the fire.

The fire was extinguished around 12:57 a.m..

Investigations into the cause of the fire are underway.