February 11, 2009 5:13 PM
- Text
Muslims Reach Out To NYC Fire Victims
(CBS/AP)
An extended family that lost nine members in a Bronx house fire late Wednesday is getting help from the Muslim community.
The mosque attended by the father of five of the young victims has started helping the family plan for funerals. A clergyman says other mosques in the area will be gathering donations today to help the family.
Moussa Magassa, who lost five children and four relatives in New York City's deadliest fire in nearly 20 years, flew back to the U.S. on Friday after learning of the horrible news while on a business trip in his native Mali.
Family members are still making funeral plans for the two Muslim families; the leader of their mosque said some bodies would be flown back to Mali for burial, while others would be buried in the New York area.
Magassa is an official of the New York chapter of the international High Council for Malians Living Abroad, and is "the best in our community," said Imam Mahamadou Soukouna, a Muslim cleric and family friend. "It's very, very, very sad what has happened to us today."
On Friday morning, a single candle flickered on the stone stairs leading to the front door of the brick, three-story house, left from the impromptu vigil held there Thursday night. The family van was still parked in the driveway, its roof strewn with debris. Near the corner bodega, strangers had created a makeshift memorial of flowers, notes and stuffed animals.
Friends, classmates and neighbors marched past the burned out shell on Woodcrest Avenue Thursday. A young child placed a tiny stuffed animal on the growing memorial, unable to comprehend the loss of so many children. In fact, no one here of any age was able to understand why this happened.
"Community lost children, a mother, and we have people that are still sick and fighting for their lives," Imam Musa Abdul-Ali said. "It's very difficult."
Prayers were heard Thursday night in at least three languages and two faiths, Christian and Muslim, while neighbors signed condolences. The message to families: You are not alone.
"The community gathering together for people we don't even know, Africans, it don't matter where you're from, we're all one people," said a neighbor known as "Mrs. T."
Upstairs in a neighbor's house 35-year-old Manthia Magassa sat stunned amidst other mourners. She lost five of her own children in the fire.
The blaze started late Wednesday night and spread quickly through the house, sparked by an overloaded space heater. Authorities said other problems compounded the situation: Batteries were missing from the two smoke alarms, and residents apparently tried to extinguish the fire themselves rather than call 911 first.
The family that owned the building had planned renovations that would have included installing sprinklers and other fire safety features, city records show. Part of the planned improvements included sprinklers to drench hallways and the home's central stairwell in the event of a fire.
The change to multi-family status would have also required the construction of at least one additional fire-resistant stairwell from the home's upper floors, city buildings officials said.
But the new project had been suspended weeks ago by the city for further evaluation because, as WCBS correspondent Jay Dow reports, the paperwork was incomplete. No such safety measures were present late Wednesday when flames tore through the house and trapped victims inside.
By the time Fatoumata Soumare called her husband from the home, she seemed to know she was doomed.
"I might die with my kids," she told him.
In fact she died with eight children, three of hers and five from a family of their cousins, in New York City's worst fire in 17 years. The blaze broke hearts from the South Bronx to West Africa, as all the parents had immigrated from Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," said Soumare's husband, Mamadou Soumare, casting tearful eyes at the burned-out building after his wife, son and twins died in the blaze. "I love her. I love my wife."
Authorities said 22 people, including 17 children, lived in the building's two apartments a few blocks north of Yankee Stadium. The dead, including babies in their cribs, were found throughout the house, a fire official said.
"I can't recollect a fire where we lost eight children," said Chief of Department Salvatore Cassano, who has 37 years in the department.
The fire was the city's deadliest since the 1990 Happy Land social club blaze in the Bronx which killed 87 people.
Soumare was driving his livery cab through Harlem when he received the frantic phone call. He made a 911 call, but by the time he got home, the house was a fiery tomb. Two neighbors, Edward Soto and David Todd, had rescued a couple of children tossed from a window, but for others it was too late. Neighbor Charles O'Neal, 21, said he saw firefighters pass along babies still clad in their pajamas and lay two dead children on sheets of white plastic.
Family members identified the dead as Fatoumata Soumare, 42, her son Dgibril and 7-month-old twins Sisi and Harouma. A fourth child, 7-year-old Hasimy, escaped the carnage, her father said. Family members provided different name spellings than the authorities did.
The Magassa family dead included four brothers — Bandiougou, 11, Mahamadou, 8, Abudubucary, 5, and Bilaly, 1, and their 3-year-old sister Diaba. Their mother and six siblings survived. City records and phone listings spell their surname as Magassa, although various other spellings were provided after the fire.
At least three more children were among the 19 people injured. A 7-year-old girl remained in critical condition at Jacobi Medical Center. A pair of 6-year-olds were upgraded from critical to good condition and transferred to Lincoln Hospital.
The survivors won support from fellow Muslims. Mamadou Soumare was among the grieving relatives who gathered Thursday afternoon for a meeting and prayer service at the Islamic Cultural Center, a mile from the fire scene.
"We are standing with them and supporting them, and we are thanking God," said Dukary Camara, a spokesman for the center. "God is the one who gives us the children and the family, and he is the one who takes them."
"These people are good Muslims," he added, "and they understand that what is destiny for them, there's nothing that can prevent that from happening."
After the service, Imam Konate Souleimane said mosques throughout the metropolitan area would accept donations for the grieving families during Friday services. He said tentative plans were for Fatoumata Soumare and her children to be flown back to Mali for burial, while the other children would be buried in the New York area.
"God is great and he is merciful," the cleric said. "He does everything for a reason."
The mosque attended by the father of five of the young victims has started helping the family plan for funerals. A clergyman says other mosques in the area will be gathering donations today to help the family.
Moussa Magassa, who lost five children and four relatives in New York City's deadliest fire in nearly 20 years, flew back to the U.S. on Friday after learning of the horrible news while on a business trip in his native Mali.
Family members are still making funeral plans for the two Muslim families; the leader of their mosque said some bodies would be flown back to Mali for burial, while others would be buried in the New York area.
Magassa is an official of the New York chapter of the international High Council for Malians Living Abroad, and is "the best in our community," said Imam Mahamadou Soukouna, a Muslim cleric and family friend. "It's very, very, very sad what has happened to us today."
On Friday morning, a single candle flickered on the stone stairs leading to the front door of the brick, three-story house, left from the impromptu vigil held there Thursday night. The family van was still parked in the driveway, its roof strewn with debris. Near the corner bodega, strangers had created a makeshift memorial of flowers, notes and stuffed animals.
Friends, classmates and neighbors marched past the burned out shell on Woodcrest Avenue Thursday. A young child placed a tiny stuffed animal on the growing memorial, unable to comprehend the loss of so many children. In fact, no one here of any age was able to understand why this happened.
"Community lost children, a mother, and we have people that are still sick and fighting for their lives," Imam Musa Abdul-Ali said. "It's very difficult."
Prayers were heard Thursday night in at least three languages and two faiths, Christian and Muslim, while neighbors signed condolences. The message to families: You are not alone.
"The community gathering together for people we don't even know, Africans, it don't matter where you're from, we're all one people," said a neighbor known as "Mrs. T."
Upstairs in a neighbor's house 35-year-old Manthia Magassa sat stunned amidst other mourners. She lost five of her own children in the fire.
The blaze started late Wednesday night and spread quickly through the house, sparked by an overloaded space heater. Authorities said other problems compounded the situation: Batteries were missing from the two smoke alarms, and residents apparently tried to extinguish the fire themselves rather than call 911 first.
The family that owned the building had planned renovations that would have included installing sprinklers and other fire safety features, city records show. Part of the planned improvements included sprinklers to drench hallways and the home's central stairwell in the event of a fire.
The change to multi-family status would have also required the construction of at least one additional fire-resistant stairwell from the home's upper floors, city buildings officials said.
But the new project had been suspended weeks ago by the city for further evaluation because, as WCBS correspondent Jay Dow reports, the paperwork was incomplete. No such safety measures were present late Wednesday when flames tore through the house and trapped victims inside.
By the time Fatoumata Soumare called her husband from the home, she seemed to know she was doomed.
"I might die with my kids," she told him.
In fact she died with eight children, three of hers and five from a family of their cousins, in New York City's worst fire in 17 years. The blaze broke hearts from the South Bronx to West Africa, as all the parents had immigrated from Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," said Soumare's husband, Mamadou Soumare, casting tearful eyes at the burned-out building after his wife, son and twins died in the blaze. "I love her. I love my wife."
Authorities said 22 people, including 17 children, lived in the building's two apartments a few blocks north of Yankee Stadium. The dead, including babies in their cribs, were found throughout the house, a fire official said.
"I can't recollect a fire where we lost eight children," said Chief of Department Salvatore Cassano, who has 37 years in the department.
The fire was the city's deadliest since the 1990 Happy Land social club blaze in the Bronx which killed 87 people.
Soumare was driving his livery cab through Harlem when he received the frantic phone call. He made a 911 call, but by the time he got home, the house was a fiery tomb. Two neighbors, Edward Soto and David Todd, had rescued a couple of children tossed from a window, but for others it was too late. Neighbor Charles O'Neal, 21, said he saw firefighters pass along babies still clad in their pajamas and lay two dead children on sheets of white plastic.
Family members identified the dead as Fatoumata Soumare, 42, her son Dgibril and 7-month-old twins Sisi and Harouma. A fourth child, 7-year-old Hasimy, escaped the carnage, her father said. Family members provided different name spellings than the authorities did.
The Magassa family dead included four brothers — Bandiougou, 11, Mahamadou, 8, Abudubucary, 5, and Bilaly, 1, and their 3-year-old sister Diaba. Their mother and six siblings survived. City records and phone listings spell their surname as Magassa, although various other spellings were provided after the fire.
At least three more children were among the 19 people injured. A 7-year-old girl remained in critical condition at Jacobi Medical Center. A pair of 6-year-olds were upgraded from critical to good condition and transferred to Lincoln Hospital.
The survivors won support from fellow Muslims. Mamadou Soumare was among the grieving relatives who gathered Thursday afternoon for a meeting and prayer service at the Islamic Cultural Center, a mile from the fire scene.
"We are standing with them and supporting them, and we are thanking God," said Dukary Camara, a spokesman for the center. "God is the one who gives us the children and the family, and he is the one who takes them."
"These people are good Muslims," he added, "and they understand that what is destiny for them, there's nothing that can prevent that from happening."
After the service, Imam Konate Souleimane said mosques throughout the metropolitan area would accept donations for the grieving families during Friday services. He said tentative plans were for Fatoumata Soumare and her children to be flown back to Mali for burial, while the other children would be buried in the New York area.
"God is great and he is merciful," the cleric said. "He does everything for a reason."
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