Outpouring of grief as victims of Bronx fire are laid to rest

NEW YORK — A Bronx community gathered Sunday to pay its final respects to perished loved ones, a week after a fire filled a high-rise apartment building with thick, suffocating smoke that killed 17 people, including eight children.

The mass funeral capped a week of prayers and mourning within a closeknit community hailing from West Africa, most with connections to the tiny country of Gambia.

Amid the mourning, there was also frustration and anger as family, friends and neighbors of the dead tried to make sense of the tragedy.

“This is a sad situation. But everything comes from God. Tragedies always happen, we just thank Allah that we can all come together,” said Haji Dukuray, the uncle of Haja Dukuray, who died with three of her children and her husband.

The dead ranged in age from 2 to 50. Entire families were killed, including a family of five. Others would leave behind orphaned children.

There were 15 caskets in all that lined the front of the prayer hall. They ranged in size — some no bigger than small coffee tables, containing the bodies of the youngest children who died.

“One week they were with us ... now they’re gone,” said Musa Kabba, the imam at the Masjid-UrRahmah mosque, where many of the deceased had prayed.

Last week, burial services were held for two children at a mosque in Harlem.

After Sunday’s services in New York City, 11 caskets were transported to a cemetery in New Jersey for burial. Four of the victims were expected to be repatriated to Gambia, as requested by their families, a Gambian government official attending the service said.

All week, family members had been anxious to lay their loved ones to rest to honor Islamic tradition, which calls for burial as soon after death as possible. But complications over identifying the victims delayed their release to funeral homes.

All of the dead collapsed and died after being overcome by smoke while trying to descend down the stairway, which acted as a flue for the heavy smoke.

The funeral was held at the Islamic Cultural Center, 2 miles from the 19-story apartment building where New York City’s deadliest fire in three decades unfolded.

Hundreds filled the mosque and many hundreds more filled tents outside or huddled in the cold to pay their respects. The services were beamed onto jumbo screens outside and in other rooms of the mosque.

Because of the magnitude of the tragedy, funeral organizers insisted on a public funeral to bring attention to the plight of immigrant families across New York City.

“There’s outcry. There’s injustice. There’s neglect,” said Sheikh Musa Drammeh, who was among those leading the response to the tragedy.

Officials blamed a faulty space heater in a third-floor apartment for the blaze, which spewed plumes of smoke that quickly rose through the stairwell of the 19-story building.