I thought it was a dream, family member of fire victims states
A dream.
That was the thought of Sophia Jones, a family member of the five Jamaicans who perished in Thursday’s deadly blaze in Bronx, New York, the morning after news broke. She was still in shock.
The cousins she had spent early December with were dead — her first knowledge of the tragedy coming from a community member.
Confirmation would later come from a cousin who was crestfallen after being unable to rescue his family members.
Unsuspecting of the blaze ravishing the high-rise building, the five were overcome within minutes after being trapped on the fifth floor of their century-old five-storey walk-up.
Twelve people were confirmed dead, while others are still reportedly missing.
A child, United States (US) officials said, had started the massive fire.
The three-year-old-boy, his mother and another child were however able to escape their apartment on the first floor. But they left the door open behind them, and it acted like a chimney that drew smoke and flames into a stairwell. From there the fire spread throughout the five-story building, US authorities said.
“… It is a tremendous loss for the family here in Jamaica and abroad. You wake up thinking it’s just a dream and that it will all go away, but it won’t. It’s not easy to lose a member of your family, and this is five. It’s hard to come to grip with this tragedy,” Jones shared with the Jamaica Observer when contacted.
The pain in her voice was moving.
“It’s hard for us to talk to each other right now without someone breaking down. Just last summer I was there. It was so much fun. It was real bonding. We had family all over coming in. They are the type to look out for each other.
“The family just isn’t dealing with it well. Everyone is crying. It’s so hard to deal with. There were two small children there. I still couldn’t come to grips. I got up thinking, oh my God it was a dream, but then it came to me that it’s reality,” Jones said.
Karen Stewart-Francis, 37, her two-year-old daughter Kylie, and seven-year-old Kelesha and 19-year-old niece Shawntay Young were all dead — a situation that has halted the progress of the family.