Hospitals are desperately working to save the lives of more than a dozen people critically injured by smoke in a fire that killed 19 people, including nine children, in a Bronx apartment building.
About 200 firefighters battled the five-alarm fire that started in a duplex apartment on the third floor of Twin Parks North West apartment building at 333 East 181 Street in the Tremont section of the Bronx just before 11 a.m. Sunday.
At least 44 people were injured, with 13 “clinging to their lives” in nearby hospitals. Several are intubated.
They are spread out among hospitals like Jacobi Medical Center, Westchester Medical Center and New York Presbyterian Hospital/Cornell
Authorities worked through the night to confirm the names of at least a dozen of the victims.
They are cross-checking identities with those reported missing to confirm numbers.
The 19 people who were killed, including 9 children, were found in the stairwell on various floors of the building, and investigators will look into why the thick heavy smoke was able to travel to all floors, leaving victims unconscious.
Many of the victims are Muslim immigrants from the West African nation of Gambia.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams urged all to seek help and assured their information would not be passed on to federal immigration authorities.
It is New York City’s deadliest blaze in three decades.
Flames were confined to the apartment, and smoke alarms were operable, but the door was left open, allowing heavy smoke to spew out through the building.
