A fire has broken out at an apartment building in New York City, killing at least 10 people and injuring more than a dozen others, local officials say. The death toll is expected to rise further.
The incident began at about 7 p.m. ET on Thursday when firefighters were called to a fire in a five-story apartment building in the 2300 block of Prospect Avenue, which is just a block from the Bronx Zoo. It was later upgraded to a five-alarm fire.
Local officials said at least 10 people had been killed and about a dozen others were injured, but the death toll was expected to rise further. Eric Phillips, a spokesman for Bill de Blasio, called it a “horrible” incident.
There was no immediate word on the cause of Thursday’s fire, which happened when temperatures in the city were just 15 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 9 degrees Celsius). About 170 firefighters and other emergency services were called to the scene to assist.
A death toll of 10 makes it one of the worst building fires in the United States in recent years.
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