jpnn.com, NEW YORK CITY - A total of 19 people died and dozens of others were injured when a fire engulfed a 19-story building in the Bronx area, New York City, United States, on Sunday (9/1).
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has only been in office for just over a week, confirmed the incident that occurred around 11 a.m. local time in the majestic brown-brick building that provides affordable housing units.
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Earlier on Sunday, officials said 32 people had been hospitalized with life-threatening injuries and a total of around 60 people were injured.
"It's a tragedy beyond measure," Adams wrote on Twitter. "Join me in praying for those we lost, especially the 9 innocent young lives that were cut short."
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The cause of the fire is still being investigated, but it is likely to raise questions about safety standards in the city's low-income housing estate.
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It was the second deadly fire at a residential complex in the US this week after twelve people, including eight children, died on Wednesday morning when a fire engulfed a public housing apartment building in Philadelphia.
US Representative Ritchie Torres told MSNBC that decades of disinvestment in affordable housing developments such as this one posed safety risks to residents and left such buildings wide open to catastrophic fires that could cost lives.
Smoke spread to every floor of the building, possibly because the apartment door was initially left open, and the victims inhaled a lot of smoke, the city's fire commissioner Daniel Nigro said at a news conference.
About 200 firefighters helped put out the fire, and some were running out of oxygen in their tanks, but they were still trying to save people from the building, Adams told CNN on Sunday. (antara/mcr20/jpnn)
This news has been broadcast on JPNN.com with the title: 19 Tewas Akibat Kebakaran Gedung, Wali Kota: Ini Tragedi Tak Terperikan