By KRWG News
Las Cruces – Southern New Mexico authorities say an elderly woman has died after being trapped inside a burning Las Cruces apartment.
The Las Cruces Fire Department responded to the blaze around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday after the 74-year-old woman reported that she was trapped in her first-floor apartment.
Battalion Chief Kristen Andersen says firefighters forced their way into the apartment where the woman lived alone and found her in a bed surrounded by flames.
Andersen says hospital officials were preparing to transport her to a burn center in Lubbock, Texas, when she died.
Her identity has not been released. No one else was injured.
The cause remains under investigation, but the fire department has ruled out foul play.
An official cause of death will be released after an autopsy.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.