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NEW YORK (AP) Two cousins tried to flee a fire in a family store by ducking into a walk-in cooler, but they were overtaken by smoke and gravely injured, firefighters said.
The two men were sleeping in the Bronx store when an extension cord overheated and started the fire shortly before 4:30 a.m. Friday, firefighters said. Relatives said the cousins were staying in the Trade Fair deli overnight because it had recently been burglarized.
Fueled by their mattresses, cardboard boxes and wooden crates, the fire soon filled the store with smoke. The cousins tried to take refuge in a narrow, cooled locker used for drinks, where firefighters found them suffering from smoke inhalation.
"They were head to head," Firefighter Steve Gillespie said.
The cousins were in critical condition later Friday at Jacobi Medical Center. An update on their condition wasn't immediately available early Saturday.
Store owner Mohammad Aloudi, a relative of both victims, said he was unsure why they hadn't been able to escape through an unlocked front gate.
"I feel horrible," he said.
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