Funeral for Bronx fire victims is held as hundreds take to the streets of New York a week after 17 were killed
HUNDREDS of mourners attended the mass funeral on Sunday afternoon for 15 of the 17 victims of the Bronx apartment building fire.
Crowds gathered at the Bronx Islamic Cultural Center in New York to pay their respects to those killed in last week’s devastating fire.
Mayor Eric Adams was one of the speakers at Sunday’s mass funeral service[/caption] The outpouring of support was so huge that the Bronx mosque couldn’t contain all of the mourners,[/caption]Sunday marks one week since the Bronx fire at Twin Park apartments at 333 E 181st Street.
Funerals began Wednesday with a service at a Harlem mosque for two young siblings, Seydou Toure, 12, and Haouwa Mahamadou, 5.
Community leaders made arrangements for the remaining victims “on behalf of the West African Community,” as all 15 were a part of a close-knit Gambian community from West Africa.
Elected officials including Mayor Eric Adams, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Senator Chuck Schumer sat in the front row across from the caskets at the emotional funeral service.
“These funeral caskets are here because they lived in the Bronx,” said Sheikh Musa Drammneh at the service. “We are here because we lived in the Bronx. People are dying because they lived in the Bronx.”
The outpouring of support was so huge that the Bronx mosque couldn’t contain all of the mourners, who filled tents set up for three blocks outside of the building as well as streets and sidewalks outside.
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The fire, which is believed to have been started by a space heater, was the city’s deadliest blaze in decades.
“What is happening here in the Bronx, it is what is happening here across our city in communities where Black, brown and immigrant people are,” said Mayor Adams at the service.
“It’s time to end those inequalities so we don’t have our babies and our families torn apart.”
Eight of the victims were children. The youngest victim is Ousmane Konteh, a two-year-old boy.
Police released a full list of their names and ages:
Fatoumata Drammeh, 50, female; Foutmala Drammeh, 21, female; Muhammed Drammeh, 12, male; Nyumaaisha Drammeh, 19, female; Haji Dukary, 49, male; Fatoumata Dukureh, 5, female; Haja Dukureh, 37, female; Mariam Dukureh, 11, female; Mustapha Dukureh, 12, male; Omar Jambang, 6, male; Sera Janneh, 27, female; Haouwa Mahamadou, 5, female; Seydou Toure, 12, male; Fatoumata Tunkara, 43, female; Isatou Jabbie, 31, female; Hagi Jawara, 47, male; Ousmane Konteh, 2, male.
Most of the victims will be buried at a cemetery in New Jersey. Four of the bodies will be flown back to their homeland of Gambia.
Eight of the 17 victims were children[/caption] The fire, started by a space heater, was the city’s deadliest blaze in decades[/caption] The mourners filled tents set up for three blocks outside of the building as well as streets and sidewalks outside[/caption] Hundreds of mourners attended the mass funeral on Sunday afternoon for victims of the Bronx apartment building fire[/caption]We pay for your stories!
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