12 killed in New York flats inferno

THE fire that killed 12 in New York City was accidentally started by a child playing with a stove, investigators believe.

Fire commissioner Daniel Nigro said that as the three-year-old boy’s mother fled her apartment with her family, she left the door open, allowing the blaze to enter the hall of the Bronx block.

The stairwell ‘ acted like a chimney’, allowing the fire to spread rapidly up the apartment building, he added.

Four children were among those killed in the deadliest residential fire in the city for more than 25 years, and four people were seriously injured.

Mr Nigro said: ‘ Our hearts go out to every person who lost a loved one and everyone who is fighting for their lives.’

The blaze broke out on the first floor of the five-storey building, which is roughly a century old, just before 7pm.

Tenants – a mix of native New Yorkers and Latino and African immigrants – scrambled down fire escapes.

But the flames moved so fast, spreading to every floor within minutes, that many never made it out of their apartments.

Around 170 firemen worked in -9C (16F) cold to rescue about a dozen people from the building. Water sprayed from hoses froze on the street.

Among the questions investigators will be focusing on was how the blaze spread so quickly in a brick building built after catastrophic fires at the turn of the 20th century ushered in an era of tougher enforcement of fire regulations.

Excluding the World Trade Centre terror attacks of September 11, 2001, it was the worst fire in the city since 87 died at a Bronx social club in 1990.