13th person dies after New York apartment fire caused by toddler
Broken windows on the back of the building where more than 10 people died in a fire in the Bronx borough of New York on Friday, Dec. 29, 2017. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)
Firefighters respond to a deadly building fire in the Bronx borough of New York on Dec. 28, 2017. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
NEW YORK — A 13th person has died from injuries suffered in one of New York City’s deadliest fires in decades.
Police say 27-year-old Holt Francis was critically injured in the Dec. 28 Bronx apartment building fire and died at a hospital on Thursday. They say the fire was caused by a 3-year-old boy playing with stove burners.
Francis’ wife, their two daughters and a niece also were killed in the fire.
Eight adults and five children died in the fire. Among them was 28-year-old Emmanuel Mensah, who rescued a number of people that night before going back into the burning building and dying of smoke inhalation.
Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro (NY’-groh) says the fire started on a stove and raced through a door and up five floors.
