Officials said Friday that the death toll from the fire has reached 12, including four children. / AFP PHOTO / KENA BETANCUR
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — The death toll from a fire that ripped through an apartment building in New York’s Bronx district last week has risen to 13, after a 27-year-old man died of his injuries, police said Thursday.
The latest victim was identified as Holt Francis. Three other members of his family — wife Karen and their two young daughters — were already confirmed dead in the December 28 blaze, the deadliest in New York in more than 25 years.
Investigators found that a three-year-old boy playing with the stove in his family apartment accidentally ignited the fire.
Flames shot up through the building’s stairwell after the boy’s mother fled her apartment with her two children, leaving the door ajar, the city’s fire commissioner told reporters.
© Agence France-Presse