On Friday, February 23, a fire broke out at a six-story building at St. Nicholas Place in Hamilton Heights, Harlem. Five people died and eighteen were injured. Now one of the victims has been identified by the Consulate General of India in New York City as Fazil Khan, a 27-year-old Indian journalist whose family had stopped receiving news of him.
“We continue to extend all possible assistance in repatriation of his mortal remains to India”, the Indian Consulate General wrote in a post on X.
Former journalist for a television station in India, Khan moved to New York in 2021 to study at Columbia University’s School of Journalism. After graduation, he started working for Hechinger Report, a nonprofit news organization that “covers inequality and innovation in education with in-depth journalism that uses research, data and stories from classrooms and campuses”.
The Dean of the School of Journalism wrote his condolences in an email to students. “It is with deep sadness that I must share the news with you that Fazil Khan, a 2021 graduate of the J-School and a 2021-22 CJI Global Migration fellow, succumbed to injuries sustained in a fire at his apartment building on Friday night… Mr. Khan was greatly admired and respected by his peers at CJS, those whom he worked with as a fellow, and his colleagues at the Hechinger Report, where he worked as a data reporter.”
After the fire, three of the victims, including Khan, were rushed to the hospital and died there. According to FDNY, eighteen others were injured critically. The blaze was caused by a lithium ion battery located on the ground floor, whose smoke overtook the hallways and blocked residents of the higher floors.
Sadly, a scene that has already played out many times in New York City in recent months. Three residents reached for the window only to realize there was no fire escape to flee to safety. The Fire Department rescued them with a rope. Now, the Red Cross is helping out homeless families.
