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Bronx fire: Twelve die in New York apartment block blaze | |
(35 minutes later) | |
At least 12 people have been killed and four others critically injured in a fire at an apartment building in the Bronx borough of New York. | |
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the fire was the deadliest in the city for at least 25 years. The victims include a one-year-old child, he added. | |
The cause of the fire, on Prospect Avenue, near Fordham University and the Bronx Zoo, is not yet clear. | |
More than 160 firefighters helped bring the blaze under control. | |
Officials said the first alarm sounded at the five-storey building at about 19:00 local time (00:00 GMT). | |
Speaking at the scene, Mr De Blasio said a nearby school had been set up to shelter those evacuated from the building. The city is currently experiencing bitterly cold weather. | Speaking at the scene, Mr De Blasio said a nearby school had been set up to shelter those evacuated from the building. The city is currently experiencing bitterly cold weather. |
"We're here at the scene of an unspeakable tragedy," Mr De Blasio said. | "We're here at the scene of an unspeakable tragedy," Mr De Blasio said. |
"Tonight, here in the Bronx there are families that have been torn apart. This is the worst fire tragedy we have seen in this city in at least a quarter century. Based on the information we have now, this will rank as one as the worst losses of life to a fire in many, many years." | "Tonight, here in the Bronx there are families that have been torn apart. This is the worst fire tragedy we have seen in this city in at least a quarter century. Based on the information we have now, this will rank as one as the worst losses of life to a fire in many, many years." |
Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro, standing alongside the mayor, described the fire as a "tragedy... without question historic in its magnitude". | |
"People died on various floors of the apartment [block], ranging in age from one to over 50," he told reporters. | |
"In a department that is surely no stranger to tragedy, we're shocked by the lives lost." | |
Witness Rafael Gonzalez, who lives in a building across the street, told WCBS-TV he was woken by the smell of smoke and then saw some people using a fire escape of the burning building as the fire raged. | |
The building contains more than 20 flats and was built just over 100 years ago, the New York Times reported. |