Survivor mourns for mom, siblings
Gabriel Diaz never found himself without a shoulder to lean on Sunday as he mourned an unthinkable loss — his mother, brother and sister, all dead in a Queens house fire that spared his own life.
The 15-year-old survivor was dressed in a suit as he sat in the front row of a room in the Leo F. Kearns Funeral Home in South Richmond Hill, his family members arranged in three coffins, one gray, one bronze and one white, in front of him.
His friends and relatives hugged him tightly as a slideshow flashed images of his mother, Silvia Umana, 51; her daughter, Guadalupe, 7, and her son, Gilbert, 19.
The photos showed the family at the beach, at the playground, on their way to school and celebrating holidays. One photo showed Guadalupe in the snow, while in several others, Gilbert rode his skateboard.
“It hasn't been easy,” said Douglas Salas, Umana's brother-in-law. “I can't even really believe it.”
Umana, her son and her daughter all died after a faulty air conditioner cable sparked an inferno that ripped through their two-story home on 117th St. near Atlantic Ave. in Richmond Hill on July 21.
Gabriel, who was home with his mother and siblings, jumped out the window to escape the flames.
He was taken to Kings County Hospital in stable condition, and has been staying with Salas since then.
“The only good thing in all this is that Gabriel is in good spirits,” Salas said.
Gabriel also has the support of the parishioners at Holy Child Jesus Church, which commemorated the victims at the noon Mass on Sunday.
The funeral will take place at the church Tuesday.
“I think it will be very emotional. It will be the first time I will do a funeral with three caskets in a row,” Bishop Octavio Cisneros said at the Mass.
Jeanpaul Obieari, a vicar at the church, led the English-language portion of the prayers at the wake.
“He was there when it happened. It's too much,” Obieari told the Daily News, referring to Gabriel. “He might be aware of what's happened, his mother is gone, his sister and brother are gone, but he may not fully understand it yet.”