Lucas Silverio, 19, died Wednesday night at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx four days after trying to rescue a stranger’s three-year-old daughter from a raging apartment complex fire
The New York City teen who ran back into a burning building to try and save a stranger’s three-year-old daughter died at a hospital Wednesday, two days after the child he carried out of the high-rise passed away.
Lucas Silverio, 19, and Yasleen London McDonald, 3, suffered burns to 80 percent of their bodies during the raging fire inside their 16-story apartment complex in the Belmont section of Garden Street in the Bronx.
Investigators told ABC 7 they are still trying to determine the cause of the fire, but they believe it was started by a combustible object someone threw into the building’s trash compactor.
The four-alarm blaze erupted around 1am Sunday, sending flames through the building’s roof.
The commotion woke Moreno, who reportedly led his grandmother, Nidia Torres, down 15 stories out of the building to safety with the help of his cousin, Jeury Mendoza.
Yasleen London McDonald, 3, (pictured) died Monday at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan a day after Silverio attempted to rescue her from the fire inside their Bronx apartment building
The iron-willed Silverio (left) ran up 14 stories and found Yasmeen (right) amid the smoke and flames against all odds before the two of them were caught in a fiery blast
Investigators told ABC 7 they are still trying to determine the cause of the fire, but right now they believe it was started by a combustible object someone threw into the building’s trash compactor.
Silverio miraculously managed to carry the child out of the building before to emergency responders
During their escape through the suffocating smoke and scorching flames, the trio crossed paths with a distraught and screaming Jasmine Moreno, who had just lost sight of her three-year-old daughter, Yasleen.
Silverio could have left the rest to firefighters after helping to save his grandmother’s life, but he bravely decided to run back into the inferno, leaving his grandma with his cousin, to rescue a child he didn’t even know.
‘He didn’t care about saving his own life in that moment. He cared about saving that girl who was so innocent. He’s a hero in my eyes,’ Silverio’s weeping uncle, Jesse Alvarez, told ABC 7.
The iron-willed 19-year-old ran up 14 stories and found Yasmeen amid the smoke and flames against all odds before the two of them were caught in a fiery blast, sources told the New York Daily News.
Silverio’s weeping uncle, Jesse Alvarez, described his nephew as ‘a hero’ during an interview outside Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx
Two unnamed members of Silverio’s family mourned his death with the rest of their loved ones at Jacobi Medical Center Thursday night
Despite suffering fatal injuries, Silverio somehow managed to carry the child out of the building to emergency responders.
But tragically, it was too little, too late for little Yasmeen who died from her injuries and smoke inhalation a day later at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan, officials said.
Two days later, Silverio succumbed to his injuries at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx.
Both victims’ families spent Thursday continuing to grieve, but also praising Silverio’s selfless heroism.
‘My heart is heavy for both my daughter and the kid who saved her,’ said Yasleen’s mom, Jasmine Moreno, to the Daily News. ‘He’s a hero. He saved my daughter without even …. my condolences. I’m going to keep them in my prayers.’
A GoFundMe page started to help Silverio’s family pay for his funeral expenses has raised $4,000.
‘I was shocked that a 19-year-old would go into the fire,’ said Yasleen’s great uncle Willie Colon, 52, of the Bronx, told the Daily News. ‘That guy is going to be in my heart forever.’