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10th victim dies from Bronx fire

Saturday, March 10, 2007

(New York- WABC, March 10, 2007) (WABC) -- A 6-year-old girl died after a two-day battle for her life, becoming the 10th victim of a devastating Bronx fire that claimed eight other children and one adult, a family spokesman said Saturday.

Asimi Soumare became the fourth child in her family to die in the blaze that also killed her mother, said a family spokesman, Sheikh Moussa Drammeh. Mamadou Soumare, a cabbie who received a frantic call from his doomed wife Fatoumata on the night of the fire, has now lost his spouse and all of their children.

The girl's death was attributed to complications due to smoke inhalation, said Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for the city medical examiner.

On Friday night, this mother who lost her children sat in the back of a car. Miriama Magassa's sister lifts her head, and then, grabs her hand and kisses it.

Forty eight hours after the fire, this family is relying on their faith to help them cope with their loss.

Omar Rasheed, relative: "We know we all live to a certain limit, we're all going to die ... it's your destiny."

Nine dead, eight of them children, in a fire that investigators say started in the basement by an overloaded space heater. The fast moving flames shot up the stairs trapping the victims on the upper floors.The victims were found throughout the building.

After a three-day battle for her life, a 7-year-old girl died Saturday. The fatal Bronx fire claims 10th victim.

Mamadou Soumari lost his wife and four of his children. Moussa Magassa lost five children. He was in the west African nation of Mali at the time of the fire, but arrived in New York on Friday. Both men met with the mayor at the Islamic Cultural Center in the Bronx.

Mayor Bloomberg says he expressed his regrets: "As the father of two daughters, I really can't imagine the pain and grief their loved ones are going through."

But family representatives say the outpouring of support from the community is helping the family cope.

All of the bodies have been released to the Fransisco funeral home.

The donations continue to pour in from city residents still trying to come to grips with a devastating fire that claimed too many lives, and that could have been prevented.

And the city used this tragedy to address fire safety. On Friday, they announced the distribution of more than 100,000 free batteries for smoke detectors.

"And on it, it has a picture of the smoke detector, shows how simple it is to install the battery," New York City Fire Commissioner Nicholas Ccoppetta said.

On Woodycrest Avenue Wednesday night, there were no working batteries in the smoke detectors.

Stay with Eyewitness News and 7online.com for continuing coverage on the Bronx fire tragedy.

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