AT least 19 people, including nine children, lost their lives in a major fire in a Bronx apartment in New York City on Sunday, Mayor Eric Adams confirmed.

“We’ve lost 19 of our neighbors today. It’s a tragedy beyond measure. Join me in praying for those we lost, especially the 9 innocent young lives that were cut short,” Adams tweeted.

The mayor said earlier Sunday that the fire was horrific.

“This is a horrific, horrific, painful moment for the city of New York, and the impact of this fire is going to really bring a level of just pain and despair in our city,” he told reporters. “This is going to be one of the worst fires we have witnessed during modern times.” Thirty-two people were sent to the hospital in life-threatening conditions. Nine people were also seriously injured, and 22 others sustained non-life-threatening injuries. One member of service was also removed to the hospital, said Adams.

The fire started from a space heater in an apartment that spanned the second and third floors of the building and only made it to the hall, city officials said.

But smoke still spread to every floor of the building, likely because the door to the apartment was left open, the city’s fire department commissioner Daniel Nigro told reporters at a news briefing.

“Members found victims on every floor in stairwells and were taking them out in cardiac and respiratory arrest,” Nigro said.

Fire marshals determined through physical evidence and accounts from residents that the fire started from a portable electric heater in the apartment’s bedroom, Nigro said.

He added the heat had been on in the apartment building, and the portable heater had been supplementing that heating.

(SD-CGTN)