Dozens of people were injured, some seriously, in a fire in a 19-story building on Sunday (9) in the Bronx neighborhood of New York, the city’s fire department announced.
“Currently, 31 are seriously injured,” the corporation said. Local media reported that more than 60 people were injured.
At least 200 firefighters participated in the operation to put out the flames, which started early this morning in a duplex located on the second and third floors of an apartment building on 181st Street in the heart of the Bronx.
According to images posted by the fire department on Twitter, the flames covered by a column of black smoke came out of a window on the second floor of the brown brick building.
In the images also appear fire stairs reaching upper floors of the building.
New York City Fire Department Commissioner Dan Nigro told CBS that there could be “several fatalities”, although as of Sunday afternoon there were still no confirmed deaths.
“The last time we had loss of life, as may be the case with this [incidente] terrible, it was 30 years ago, also in the Bronx,” said Nigro.
The fire in a three-story building in Philadelphia last Wednesday (5th) is still fresh in memory. At the time, 12 people died, including eight minors, in one of the worst fires in recent US history.
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