Two students at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville have died a day after a fire in their off-campus apartment unit.
A spokeswoman for St. Luke's Hospital in suburban St. Louis says 21-year-old Lacy Siddall and 19-year-old Lauren Petersen died there Monday.
Firefighters responding to the blaze early Sunday found the two women in a room next to a bedroom that was on fire in their second-floor apartment.
Authorities say the two victims were childhood friends who grew up in Bethalto.
Investigators don't consider the fire suspicious, but the cause hasn't yet been pinpointed.
Funeral arrangements are pending.