Apartment block fire leaves '12 dead as 200 firefighters’ respond to blaze
AT LEAST 11 people are dead and 15 injured after an apartment fire, reports reveal.
At least 10 people have died in the apartment blaze
More than 200 firefighters have responded to the blaze in New York which reportedly started on the ground floor of the building.
Local media is reporting that 15 people have been taken from the building with serious injuries.
At least one child has been confirmed among those killed in the fire.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s press secretary confirmed six of the deaths earlier and said he expected the number to rise.
He tweeted: “Will be more. Horrible. Fire Commissioner on scene. Mayor here shortly.”
The blaze engulfed the five-storey building on Prospect Avenue in Belmont.
12 people are dead in New York after a deadly fire swept through a Bronx apartment building. #TenNews
— TEN Eyewitness News (@channeltennews) December 29, 2017
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we're shocked by the lives lost
The fire began at around 11.50pm GMT (6.50pm local time).
Mayor de Blasio confirmed that the fire had been put out "completely".
The incident has been reported as the deadliest building fire in the New York City since 1990.
The blaze started on the ground floor of the brick building and quickly spread upstairs, city Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro confirmed at a news conference.
Mayor De Blasio said the death toll ranked as "one of the worst losses of life to a fire in many, many years" in the New York.
The city’s mayor confirmed that four people were in a critical condition in hospital "fighting for their lives”.
Around 200 firefighters attended the scene after the fire started at around 7.00pm local time
Commissioner Nigro said: ”People died on various floors of the apartment, ranging in age from 1 to over 50.
"In a department that is surely no stranger to tragedy, we're shocked by the lives lost."
Mayor de Blasio said: “Hold your families close and keep those families here in the Bronx in your prayers.”