DOOMED BRONX WOMAN CALLED DAUGHTER DURING DEADLY BLAZE

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Bronx baby-sitter Maria Batiz, trapped with her 7-month-old granddaughter by a blistering five-alarm fire, dialed her daughter’s phone and started screaming.

“We’re going to die in here!” wailed the prescient Batiz, whose lifeless body was found clutching infant Amora Serenity Vidal as the pair sought deliverance inside a bathtub in her third-floor apartment.

Batiz, 56, and the beautiful dark-haired baby were among a dozen people killed Thursday night by the thick smoke and fast-moving fire in a century-old apartment building at 2363 Prospect Ave.

Heartbreak, devastation and disbelief were evident in the fire’s aftermath, with each floor and apartment in the five-story building bearing witness to its own trail of tears.

Carmaleta Halladene fled her first-floor apartment down a back fire escape with her 5-year-old son, covering her son’s head with the hood of his jacket as they ran through fire.

"I told him to put his hands in his pockets so the flames wouldn't get on his skin," she said. "I saw the flames spitting out, pushing out and it got onto a garbage can on the first floor."

Maria Batiz, 56, and her baby granddaughter, Amora Vidal, died in a five-alarm fire Thursday at an apartment building in the Bronx. (FACEBOOK)

Halladene's entire tight-knit family lived in the building and she waited in vain for them to meet her on the street.

She saw her uncle Holt Francis taken out on a gurney and then ran to St. Barnabas Hospital where she found out the fate of the rest of her family.

Her younger sister, Shawntay Young, 19, her aunt Karen Stewart-Francis, 37, and cousins Kylie, 2, and Kelesha Charmela Francis, 7, were all killed in the fire. They were found huddled in the bathroom of their fifth-floor apartment, where they sought refuge like the Batiz family, according to the FDNY.

Holt Francis is now fighting for his life, unable to breathe on his own after being resuscitated three times.

“The doctors called the family to ask to pull the plug,” Halladene said, but the family refused.

Young lived in a basement apartment in the building — but had gone upstairs to visit with Karen Francis before a 3-year-old boy accidentally ignited the blaze.

Her sister said she dreamed of being a flight attendant and had a “beautiful soul.”

“She’s a kid at heart,” Halladene said.

Young’s boyfriend of seven months, Kenyon George, 19, said he slept through a call from Young earlier in the day on Thursday and was racked with guilt.

“If I had picked up the phone, she would have been over here all day,” said George.

(Clockwise from top l.) Shawntay Young, 19, Karen Francis, 37, Kylie Francis, 2, and Charmela Francis, 7, have been identified as four of the 12 people who died in a fire in a Bronx apartment building, Dec. 28, 2017.(OBTAINED BY DAILY NEWS)

U.S. Army mechanic Emmanuel Mensah, home for the holidays and staying with a pal, was down the hallway from the baby-sitting grandmom when the inferno began. He was found a floor below.

The 28-year-old moved to the Bronx from Ghana five years ago and dreamed of joining the military so he could help people — and he died a hero, his family said.

“I heard that he was trying to help people,” said his father, Kwabena Mensah, 62. “He brought people out, went back in. Then, the third time, he couldn’t make his way out.”

“We are asking ourselves, why didn’t he also escape? Why did he decide to go upstairs," his heartbroken aunt Sherry Mensah said. “That is his nature. He just wanted to help and he thought he would be able to make it.”

At a vigil held Friday outside the building, three of Mensah’s friends — one in full Army uniform — left a bouquet of red and white flowers with a camouflage Army hat on top of a growing memorial.

Sources told The News that an 8-month-old girl was found dead inside a bathtub alongside an older woman in the small studio apartment. (JAMES KEIVOM/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

Local firefighters also joined neighbors and family members to remember the dead.

A 12-year-old boy was killed, his identity still unknown, along with two other anonymous victims: A 50-year-old man and a woman in her 20s. Officials believed the pre-teen and the older man were possibly related.

The two other victims were identified as Justice Opoku, a man in his 30s or 40s, and Donkor Sollomon, 49, discovered inside apartment 19.

The two, like Maria Batiz and little Amora, unsuccessfully sought safety inside a bathtub.

Batiz was baby-sitting her granddaughter when the blaze erupted on the first floor near the stairway, just two floors below her small studio.

A NYC Buildings Inspector pictured surveyed the basement and courtyard after a fire swept through the five-story apartment building in the Bronx. (GREGG VIGLIOTTI FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

A maelstrom of smoke and fire almost instantly billowed up the lone staircase, trapping Batiz with the infant. The mom dialed up daughter Christine, 26, who urged the terrified Maria to find a safe place.

“My niece was telling her, ‘Get out! What are you doing?’ ” said Fernando Batiz, brother of the dead woman. “I guess (Maria) was hysterical, and she got trapped.

“She was scared. She was frantic. I guess the smoke overcame her.”

Mensah’s relatives maintained their optimism as they stood vigil across parts of two days for the missing soldier, who had just his finished basic training in Georgia.

His dad went to four hospitals in search of his son as Emmanuel’s brother Twum Bredu prayed for his missing sibling.

Army Veteran Emmanuel Mensah, died in the Bronx Fire that killed 12 people on Dec. 28, 2017. (OBTAINED BY DAILY NEWS)

There was reason for optimism: The family in the apartment where Mensah was staying had escaped with their lives. But the news was ultimately crushing for the clan.

Father Kwabena Mensah said the two missed out on a chance to spend their last Christmas together. He appeared stoic, but the death has devastated Kwabena, his sister said.

“When you ask anything about (Emmanuel), he starts crying,” his sister Sherry Mensah said. “Maybe tomorrow will be better.”

Christine Batiz harbored few hopes about her family’s fate after the terrifying call from her mom.

In a post on a Gofundme page to help with Batiz's funeral arrangements, Christine recounted the call she got from her mom while on the job as a security guard.

A tear runs down the face of Kenyon George, whose girlfriend Shawntay Young, died during an apartment building fire. (JULIO CORTEZ/AP)

“She told me there was a fire in the building and she was trapped,” wrote Batiz. “I never heard from her again . . . I lost my angel baby and my best friend, my mother.

“I lost everything in a matter of minutes. One thing you know my daughter is playing with her new (Christmas) toys, the next hour they are gone from my life.”

The little girl’s paternal grandmother, Nyvia Vidal, said Amora was just starting to crawl.

“She was my love,” said Vidal, 47, through tears. “She was my first grandbaby. It just hurts so much. I still can’t believe it.”

Vidal — whose son is engaged to Christine — recalled Amora’s delight on Christmas morning when she gave the little girl a race car and a ball.

Local firefighters joined neighbors, friends and family to remember the dead at a vigil held outside the Bronx apartment building. (SAM COSTANZA FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

“She was so sweet,” said Vidal. “She was smart. She responded a lot to her name. She’d look at up you, make a face. She was a character.”

Fernando Batiz, 54, said he had yet to track down his niece Christine since learning around 5 a.m. Friday that his older sister and the baby were among the dead.

Batiz and one of his brothers knew the two were missing, but the pair held out hope that Maria and the child had managed to escape.

“I’m like numb, I’m in shock,” said Fernando, who was homeless until his sister offered assistance. “She helped me out. She took me from the street.”

Batiz said Maria, who came to New York from Puerto Rico, was one of 10 children — five boys and five girls. The other sisters remain in Puerto Rico, he said.

He was worried about Christine after the young mother lost her own mom and daughter.

“That was her first baby,” said Fernando. “She’s a baby herself.”