Bronx fire: Families displaced by blaze plead for answers on whether loved ones are among the dead

‘We want to know who is alive and who is dead... that is all we want to know’

People take part in the evening prayer at the Masjid Ar Rahmah, a mosque close to the multi-level apartment building that was the scene of a fire in the Bronx (Reuters)

A day after a fire at the Bronx led to the deaths of 17 people, including eight children, some of the families of the victims are still in the dark over whether their loved ones are among the dead.

New York city authorities are yet to release the names of the victims in what has been described as one of the most devastating fires in the city’s history.

Yusupha Jawara was one family member who frantically tried calling an emergency helpline, going to a hospital to look for her missing younger brother and sister-in-law and pleading with officials to learn of their fate.

“The minimum we want is information,” Mr Jawara told New York Daily News. “We went to the hospital, sitting there for 11 hours. Nobody slept, just calling and calling.”

His missing relatives were inside the 19-storey apartment building in the Bronx borough on Sunday morning when a space heater malfunctioned in the third floor of a duplex apartment, sparking a fire.

City officials said the deaths were caused by smoke inhalation after fumes from the fire spread throughout the building self-closing door of the apartment where the first started was left open.

Several despondent family members of the victims gathered outside the Masjid Ar-Raham mosque on Webster Avenue with the hope of learning some new information.

Residents of the apartment building which suffered the city's deadliest fire in three decades, gather outside the building to collect their belongings (AP)

Mr Jawara, 46, said he had looked for his brother and his sister-in-law at the hospital where the injured were taken and called 311 numerous times to know if they were “dead or alive”.

“We want to know who is alive and who is dead,” Mr Jawara said. “That is all we want to know.”

Later in the night, it was confirmed to Mr Jawara that his brother Hagi Jawara, 47, and sister-in-law, Isatou Janie, 31, had died in the tragedy.

But Mr Jawara said he still does not know what to tell their four children, aged between four and 14, as they waited at his home for news about their parents.

“The four children don’t know about it yet,” Mr Jawara said. “We’re still trying to figure out how to break the news.”

The family of 38-year-old wheelchair-bound Dorel Anderson, who was visiting her boyfriend Ramel Thompson at the building, have also been trying to find the same answers, reported New York Post.

Her boyfriend lived in the apartment numbered 13R in the building and remains missing while his parents, who lived on the 17th floor, were able to escape.

Karen Benjamin, Ms Anderson’s mother, said they received no information about their daughter who has cerebral palsy and cannot walk.

The family said neither the New York police department nor the Red Cross have information about her. The woman used to live in Brooklyn with her 85-year-old grandmother, who has cancer.

A representative for the New York city medical examiner’s office, Julie Bolcer, said the office is working to identify the victims who are in Bronx and Manhattan morgues.

She said the process is being carried out virtually with the help of families.

A GoFundMe fundraiser has been organised by the Gambian Youths Organisation and has managed to raise over $500,000 in less than 24 hours.

The group is headquartered just a few blocks from the building.

“We’ve set up a fund-raiser so that we could get funds directly to all victims,” said Salim Drammeh, 26, president of the organisation.

He said they called a mother yesterday, and she told him she lost two of her kids to the fire.

“These are our people, these are our families,” he said. “You have families that lost every single thing. But within that shock, the community again really came out, came through and provided support for each other even though this is something that’s been really hurtful.”