An eight-year-old girl was hit by a car and injured Saturday night in Northeast Washington, but a man who apparently had tried to help her died shortly afterward, according to authorities.

The incident occurred about 9 p.m. in the 5300 block of Chillum Place NE, according to a spokesman for the DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services department.

The girl was taken to a hospital with injuries that appeared to be serious but not life threatening, the spokesman said.

However, he said the man appeared to go into cardiac arrest. He was taken to a hospital but could not be revived, the spokesman said. The precise cause of his death was not specified.

The relationship between the man and the girl could not be learned.

Information was not immediately available about the circumstances in which the girl was struck.