WLS(CHICAGO) — A ninth child has died from a blaze that erupted in a Chicago home early Sunday.
The victims range in age from 3 months to 16 years old and are from at least two families, according to ABC station WLS in Chicago.
The death toll first stood at eight, with two teenagers in the hospital in critical condition. But one of the survivors, a 14-year-old boy, died on Monday, according to WLS.
The children were at a sleepover when the fire started, 15-year-old Marcos Contreras told The Chicago Tribune.
“By the time we got here, the whole house was on fire,” he said. “They were taking out my cousins and my brothers.”
Contreras lost brothers, sisters and cousins in the blaze, WLS reported.
“It just feels like my whole world is crashing,” he said. “We stuck together like glue. Nothing could separate us.”
The home did not have any working smoke detectors, according to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
“The fire began in the rear and the exit to the front was clear but without working smoke detectors the occupants were not awakened in time to get to safety,” the mayor said in a statement Sunday.
“Our thoughts go out to not only the families of those who perished but to members of the department who pushed as hard as possible to reverse the deadly fate of the eight who are now gone,” the mayor added.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, WLS said.
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