10th child dies from Chicago apartment fire
Amber Ayala, who lost siblings in a fatal fire, hugs a wooden cross at the scene of the fire in Chicago, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. Nine children were killed in the fire and one was critically injured. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune via AP)
Damaged buildings at the scene of a fatal fire, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, that killed nine children and left one critically injured. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune via AP)
Marcos Contreras, left, hugs another person near wood crosses at the scene of a fatal fire that killed nine children and critically injured one, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune via AP)
Marcos Contreras, 15, and his sister Amber Ayala look at photos of their siblings that were killed in a fire in Chicago, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. Nine children were killed in the fire and one was critically injured. (Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune via AP)
Updated August 28, 2018 - 1:14 pm
CHICAGO — A weekend fire in a Chicago apartment building has claimed a 10th life.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office says in a news release that 14-year-old Adrian Hernandez was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital in Chicago at 11:12 a.m. Tuesday.
All ten victims of the pre-dawn Sunday fire at the apartment on the city’s Southwest Side were children. All but two of them died at the scene.
Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the blaze, though they’ve ruled out arson. There were no working smoke alarms at the home.
There were no adults home at the time of the fire, and the state Department of Children and Family Services has said it is looking into “allegations of neglect.”
