- A Sunday apartment fire in the Bronx killed 17 people, including 8 children.
- Officials on Tuesday identified 14 victims and said an investigation into faulty doors in the complex is ongoing.
- The New York City fire commissioner said a faulty space heater sparked the Sunday morning fire.
Officials on Tuesday identified 14 of 17 victims killed in a Sunday apartment fire in the Bronx, after a faulty space heater sent smoke billowing through the entire complex.
The identified victims range in age from 5 years old to 50 years old, and their names follow:
- Muhammed Drammeh, 12
- Nyumaaisha Drammeh, 19
- Foutmala Drammeh, 21
- Fatoumata Drammeh, 50
- Haji Dukary, 49
- Fatoumata Dukureh, 5
- Mariam Dukureh, 11
- Mustapha Dukureh, 12
- Haja Dukureh, 37
- Omar Jambang, 6
- Sera Janneh, 27
- Haouwa Mahamadou, 5
- Seydou Toure, 12
- Fatoumata Tunkara, 43
The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Tuesday that all 17 victims died of smoke inhalation. A spokesperson for the agency told CNN that the manner of death for all the deceased was determined to be an accident.
Fire officials are focusing their investigation on self-closing doors inside the building that possibly malfunctioned, allowing the smoke to quickly spread throughout the 19-story complex, according to WLNY.
At least eight of the deceased were children, officials said earlier this week, and dozens of additional residents were injured. According to CNN, at least eight patients are still being hospitalized in relation to the fire as of Tuesday, while another 25 have since been treated and released.
Several residents in the 120-unit building told the outlet that fire alarms throughout the complex frequently malfunctioned, causing a delay in response time among many people in the building on Sunday morning.
The building was home to a large population of Muslim immigrants from West Africa, CNN reported, and many of the units housed multiple family members.
One 23-year-old woman, Fatima Drammeh, who was at work when the fire broke out, lost her mother, brother, and two sisters, according to a GoFundMe. The fundraising page said Drammeh's 16-year-old brother is currently hospitalized after he was rescued from the unit.
Another Bronx resident, Yusupha Jawara told the New York Daily News that his two nieces and two nephews were left orphaned by the fire. Jawara's brother and sister-in-law were not among the released victim names on Tuesday.
"The four children don't know about it yet," Jawara told the outlet. "We're still trying to figure out how to break the news."