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An 11-year-old girl is dead and her younger sister is recovering in hospital after they were allegedly stabbed by their mother inside a Montreal apartment on Saturday.

Montreal police said the mother, 34, was arrested and taken to hospital with injuries to her upper body.

“Injuries that she inflicted herself,” said Const. Julien Lévesque. “The woman is the mother of the two girls and will be met by the investigators of the major-crimes section of the Montreal police as soon as her condition allows it.”

Police said a 911 call came in around 6 p.m. on Saturday. Officers found the girls and they were quickly taken to hospital by ambulance, both considered in critical condition.

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The older sister, 11, died in hospital later in the evening.

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Lévesque said the younger girl, 5, was in stable condition as of Sunday morning.

Police have closed off Rousselot Street — in the city’s Villeray-St.Michel-Park Extension district — to allow forensic teams and detectives to conduct their investigation.

A supervisor with Urgences-Santé — the local ambulance service — recounted a tragic scene for paramedics.

Antoine Ortuso said four people were transported to hospital, but couldn’t say if it was the father of the girls who neighbours reported seeing outside in shock.

Urgences-Santé staff was also in shock, Ortuso said.

“These are the types of calls that leave traces for the rest of a career,” he said.