At least 12 people, including a 1-year-old, have died in a massive apartment fire in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday night.
Calling the blaze “one of the worst loss-of-life fires in many, many years,” de Blasio said another four people were critically injured and “fighting for their lives.”
Speaking at a press conference at the fire scene, de Blasio said at least 12 people were rescued from the building at 2363 Prospect Ave. in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx.
“The search of the building continues so we know that even though it’s horrible to report 12 are dead already, we may lose others as well,” de Blasio said.
The deaths ranged in age from 1 year old to “over 50,” authorities said.
“They were burned, even little kids on the stretchers, burned,” a resident of the building told New York ABC station WABC.
Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said the fire broke out on the first floor of the five-story building and spread upstairs. He said it was “way too early to tell the cause.”
“As of now, this tragedy is without question historic in its magnitude,” Nigro said.
“I came out through the window. Yeah, there was smoke everywhere. I couldn’t see the door. The door was … I couldn’t see the door. Was covered in smoke already,” Matthew Igbinetion, a building resident, told WABC.
More than 160 firefighters are braving frigid temperatures to battle the flames, the FDNY announced on Twitter.
The mayor said the fire has been put out completely by the FDNY.
The fire is the deadliest in New York City — excluding the Sept. 11 attacks — since the Happy Land fire at a nightclub in the Bronx in March 1990, which killed 87 people.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
