New York City authorities have revised down the number of people who died in a five-alarm fire inside a Bronx high-rise building on Sunday.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) modified the death toll in the Bronx apartment building fire to reflect that 17 people died, not 19 as initially reported.
The victims were nine adults and eight children, Adams said at a press conference. Dozens of others were injured in the blaze.
"This is an unspeakable tragedy," Adams said, adding that he had been to every school attended by the children who died in the fire to offer support.
"Patients were taken to seven different hospitals. There was a bit of a double count. And I guess it's a bit of good news that the number isn't 19 but 17," New York City Fire Department Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.
He further said that smoke, not fire, had caused the deaths and serious injuries.
The fire originated in a duplex apartment, the door of which had been left open, allowing the smoke to spread, officials say.
Investigators determined that a malfunctioning electric space heater, plugged in on a cold morning, started the fire in the 19-story building.
The flames damaged only a small part of the building, but smoke poured through the apartment’s open door and turned stairwells — the only method of escape in a building too tall for fire escapes — into dark, ash-choked death traps.
The building was equipped with smoke alarms, but several residents said they initially ignored them because alarms were so common in the 120-unit building.
