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Victims of Bronx apartment fire identified

By Theresa Seiger, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
By Theresa Seiger, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

NEW YORK — Officials in New York City have identified the 17 people killed Sunday after a faulty electric space heater sparked a fire in a 19-story apartment building in the Bronx, according to multiple reports.

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The victims ranged in age from 2 to 50, WPIX and WCBS-TV reported, citing officials. They died of smoke inhalation after a malfunctioning door failed to close automatically, allowing smoke to spread through the stairwell of the Twin Parks North West tower, according to The New York Times.

Authorities identified the victims to WPIX, WCBS and WABC-TV as:

  • Ousmane Konteh, a 2-year-old boy
  • Haouwa Mahamadou, a 5-year-old girl
  • Fatoumata Dukureh, a 5-year-old girl
  • Omar Jambang, a 6-year-old boy
  • Mariam Dukureh, an 11-year-old girl
  • Mustapha Dukureh, a 12-year-old boy
  • Muhammed Drammeh, a 12-year-old boy
  • Seydou Toure, a 12-year-old boy
  • Nyumaaisha Drammeh, a 19-year-old woman
  • Foutmala Drammeh, a 21-year-old woman
  • Sera Janneh, a 27-year-old woman
  • Isatou Jabbie, a 31-year-old woman
  • Haja Dukureh, a 37-year-old woman
  • Fatoumata Tunkara, a 43-year-old woman
  • Hagi Jawara, a 47-year-old man
  • Haji Dukary, a 49-year-old man
  • Fatoumata Drammeh, a 50-year-old woman

Many of those in the building were from Gambia in West Africa and many of the victims were related, according to CNN and WABC.

>> Related: NYC apartment fire kills 17, including children; space heater was cause

“We are a very small country of about less than two million people, and we are all related,” Dawda Docka Fadera, Gambia’s ambassador to the United States, told the Times. “Everybody knows everybody, so our country is currently in a state of shock.”

Built in 1972, the building included 120 units, according to CNN. Resident Karen Dejesus told the news network that the building’s fire alarm often went off, so when residents heard the alarm go off on Sunday, “it was like second nature to us.”

“Not until I actually (saw) the smoke coming in the door (did I realize) it was a real fire,” she said, adding that she heard people yelling for help.

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Photos: NYC apartment fire Emergency personnel work at the scene of a fatal fire at an apartment building in the Bronx. (Yuki Iwamura/Associated Press )

At a news conference Sunday, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said the fire started in the bedroom of a duplex on the second and third floors of the building. It is the deadliest blaze reported in the city since 1990, when an arsonist set fire to the Happy Land social club in the Bronx, killing 87 people, The Associated Press reported.

In addition to the 17 people who died in Sunday’s fire, dozens of others were injured and several remained in critical condition Monday, according to the Times. Nigro warned that the death toll could rise as many people continued “fighting for their lives,” the newspaper reported.

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