Four women in B.C. were hospitalized Friday after a group of pit bulls turned on their owners during a vicious dog fight.

The sudden attack occurred inside a home in Surrey, a community southeast of Vancouver, on Friday afternoon.

RCMP said three pit bulls and a small dog started fighting each other and the owners were bitten as they tried to break it up.

Witnesses told CTV Vancouver that the women emerged from the house covered in blood and with bite marks on their arms. Some of the victims received stitches in hospital.

Animal control officers used long grips to seize the dogs by their necks and lead them out of the home. RCMP and animal control officers are expected to investigate the incident.

A nearby neighbour who saw the women flee the residence said he met the dogs before and they seemed friendly.

“I was over in the front yard with them and they were playing. (I) was petting them, they seemed friendly – then something like this happens. I guess with a pit bull you never know, right?” said neighbour Ryan Mitchell.

Neighbours said the family who lived in the home had moved in recently.

The dogs have been taken to an animal shelter, but it’s unclear what will happen to them.

With a report from CTV Vancouver