19 dead as blaze breaks out in New York City apartment

(News 1st); 19 people dead were found dead including 9 children, as a fire broke out in a residential apartment building in the Bronx in New York City on Sunday(9).

A total of 63 people were injured, while 32 people have been hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, according to Daniel Nigro, commissioner of the New York City Fire Department.

This was deemed as the worst fire New York City has ever experienced in recent times by the City's Mayor Eric Adams.

It was reported that the fire started at around 11 a.m.(EST) in a duplex apartment on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the apartment building.

Around 200 members of the New York City Fire Department responded to the fire at the 19-story building at 333 East 181st Street, the New York City Fire Department stated.

A "malfunctioning electric space heater" was the source of the fire, The heater was in the bedroom of an apartment, and the fire consumed the room and then the entire apartment, Nigro said during a press conference.

Some of the residents who were attempting  to exit the building could not "escape due to the intensity of smoke. While other Victims were found on every floor of the building, many in cardiac arrest, and it was also reported that the injuries were predominantly from smoke inhalation, the commissioner of the New York City Fire Department said.