by Dorian Block and Jonathan Lemire
Two Bronx bodega workers were pulled unconscious from a narrow walk-in cooler where they had sought refuge from a raging fire early yesterday, officials said.
Basam and Abdul Aloudi were asleep in a makeshift bedroom at Trade Fair Deli Corp. Grocery in Morrisania when an overheated extension cord sparked the blaze at 4:25 a.m., FDNY officials said.
As flames consumed cardboard boxes, wooden crates and their own mattresses, the workers ran to the back of the store and tried to hide in a 2-foot-wide, 10-foot-deep chilled locker used to store beverages.
But they were overcome by the choking smoke and lapsed into unconsciousness before firefighters arrived.
"They were head to head. They were actually inside the cooler," said Firefighter Steve Gillespie of Engine 41. "It was narrow. I could barely fit through."
Neighbors told the Bravest they thought employees were in the store.
The workers were taken to the hyperbaric chambers at Jacobi Medical Center. They were listed in critical condition with severe smoke inhalation but are expected to survive, officials said.
Basam, 22, and Abdul, 19, are the cousin and nephew of store owner Mohammad Aloudi, who insisted that the workers do not live in the Fulton Ave. bodega but were simply staying there as security against a rash of recent burglaries.
"I feel horrible and sorry for them," said Mohammad Aloudi, adding that the young men were not forced to stay inside. "There are no locks in front. ... They could have come out."
FDNY officials confirmed that the roll-down gate in the front was unlocked, but frowned on the practice of leaving workers in stores overnight.
 |
