Mourners Remember Victims Of Bronx Fire

March 12, 2007

Hundreds of mourners, many kneeling in prayer on tarps and newspapers, lined the street outside a mosque Monday during the tear-filled funeral for the 10 African immigrants, nine of them children, killed in the city's deadliest fire in two decades.

Eight tiny caskets were brought into the mosque one at a time. One coffin held 7-month-old twins. All the plain, unfinished caskets were pointed toward Mecca in adherence to Islamic traditions.

"I haven't stopped crying yet," said Ethel Hogue, 63, who was among those gathered outside the mosque. "You understand with adults, but children who haven't had a chance. The whole area is numb. We just can't believe this has happened."

Thursday's early morning fire, apparently caused by a space heater, roared through a row house shared by two families from the west African nation of Mali. Twenty-two people lived in the home, 17 of the children. As smoke and flames quickly spread, a woman threw two children out of an upstairs windows to men on the ground. Three remain hospitalized.

Monday's funeral was closed to the public, but that didn't stop hundreds of people from filling nearby streets to pay their respects.

Mosque leaders put down blue plastic tarps so Muslim mourners could kneel and pray for the victims. Worshippers who did not fit on the tarps placed their prayer rugs directly on the street or knelt on newspapers.

When the call to prayer was given before the funeral, hundreds of worshippers outdoors began standing, kneeling and prostrating themselves in unison.

Moussa Magassa and Mamadou Soumare _ the two fathers of the children _ joined other family members at the service.

Imam Konate Souleimane said family members "came to us and said 'don't cry.' They said 'we know God did it.' They have a strong belief."

The funeral "was really something," Souleimane said. "I don't know how to describe it. People crying, making prayers, giving donations."

After the ceremony, pallbearers carried the caskets out of the mosque toward a procession of waiting hearses. The bodies of Magassa's five children _ ranging in age from 1 to 7 _ were then taken to a Muslim cemetery in New Jersey for burial; Soumare's four children _ from 7 months to 7 years old _ and wife will be flown back to Mali, the victims' homeland.

One woman sobbed as the hearses passed. Fatoumata Sylla said she also hailed from Mali and knew the families.

"They're all children. They didn't do anything in life. They didn't see anything. They didn't do anything to God. Everybody has to go, but it's too early for them," she said, trying to dry her tears.

The fire has prompted a huge outpouring of support among New Yorkers. The family received nearly $200,000 in donations, and took up Yankees owner George Steinbrenner on his offer to pay for the funeral. The victims lived just a few blocks from Yankee Stadium.

The family also accepted the offer from Air France to fly the victims' bodies to Mali. Other donations included a contractor's offer to rebuild the ravaged house, free of charge.

The emotional service attracted many strangers who never knew the families.

"I was home watching the news and I felt I just had to be here," said Clinton Makel, who stood in a barricaded area about two blocks from the mosque. "I don't know them, but I feel like I know them. I was born and raised in the Bronx and I'm just so sad for the families."

Several dignitaries also visited the mosque to pay their respects, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Hospital officials said the three surviving fire victims were improving. The Magassas' 6-year-old daughter was upgraded to good condition Monday. Two other members of the Magassa family, ages 5 and 23, have been upgraded to fair condition.

The immigration status of the surviving family members has emerged as a potential problem. Rep. Jose Serrano of the Bonx said it was not clear whether some family members would be allowed to go to Mali for the burials and then return to the U.S. because they may be here illegally. He was trying to address the problem with the State Department.

The blaze was New York City's deadliest since a 1990 fire at a Bronx social club killed 87 people.