The second apartment fire in 10 days in the Bronx district of New York city killed 1 dead and 8 injured

Beijing, 19 Jan (Xinhua) -- An explosion and fire broke out in an apartment building in New York City, the United States, on january 18, killing at least one person and injuring eight others. The explosion is suspected to have been triggered by a natural gas leak.

A video on social media showed a 3-story apartment building in the Bronx catching fire and billowing smoke, and police urged passers-by to leave as soon as possible and not to stop. A video uploaded by the New York City Fire Department on social media showed firefighters fighting fires with fire hoses, part of the apartment's façade had turned black, and part of the façade appeared to be missing.

The City said the wounded included five police officers who were guiding the evacuation of residents inside the building. John Hawkins, the fire department's director of firefighting operations, said one woman died and one woman was seriously injured in the home where the explosion occurred, both in their 60s. The houses where the explosion occurred and the houses of several surrounding households were severely damaged.

The cause of the explosion is under investigation. But Hawkins said that before the explosion, "reports were received that someone smelled natural gas." New York Mayor Eric Adams said gas supplies for the entire neighborhood have been cut off.

The apartment building explosion and fire was less than 10 days after another apartment building fire in the Bronx. On the 9th of this month, a fire broke out in a 19-story apartment building in the Bronx, killing 19 people, including nine children, and injuring 63 others, making it one of the worst fires in New York City.

Investigators look out from inside an apartment building in New York, U.S., on Jan. 9. (Xinhua News Agency, photo by Guo Ke)

The apartment building that caught fire on the 9th is a guaranteed housing in the United States, and most of the households belong to the low-income group, and many of the households are immigrants from the West African country of Gambia. New York City Fire Department Chief Daniel Negro said that according to preliminary investigations, the fire was caused by small heaters in the homes of residents, and there was no fire escape ladder outside the building, and middle- and high-rise residents could only escape from the passage inside the building, and many people were killed by thick smoke.

On the 5th, an apartment building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, caught fire, killing 13 people and injuring 2 others. The building is also affordable housing. (Zheng Haoning)