by Xana O'Neill and Tamer El-Ghobashy
A 55-year-old Bronx man died Sunday after a fire erupted in his third-floor apartment, fire officials said.
"I tried to go in there, but there was too much smoke," said Cathy Rosario, 28, who rushed down from her sixth-floor apartment to help.
The cause of the 3 a.m. fire on W. 162nd St., Highbridge, is under investigation, but may have been sparked when the man fell asleep while smoking in bed, a source said.
The victim, who was not identified pending family notification, was taken to Lincoln Hospital, where he was declared dead.
It is the same Bronx neighborhood where an inferno claimed the lives of 10 members of two Malian families last year.
Neighbors said the sight of thick smoke and raging flames in the middle of the night brought back sad memories of the tragic 2007 fire on Woodycrest Ave. that trapped and killed Mariam Soumare and nine children.
Last week, 14 people were injured in a blaze that broke out in the building next door to the 2007 fire.
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