NEW YORK, March 9: The father of five children killed in Wednesday’s fire in Bronx, New York, who flew here from his native Mali on Thursday, praised the mosque leaders in the area for reaching out to the families of the victims immediately.

Moussa Magassa said the mosque had begun helping the extended family plan for the funerals of the nine victims, and Imam Konate Souleimane said other mosques across the region would be gathering donations to help the survivors, said a news report here.

Initial plan was to fly the only adult killed in the blaze, Fatoumata Soumare, and her three children to Mali for burial, while Magassa’s children would be buried in New York, he said.

“These people are good Muslims,” said a spokesman for the Islamic Cultural Centre, where Soumare’s husband joined other grieving relatives and supporters in prayer on Thursday night. “They understand that what is destiny for them, there’s nothing that can prevent that from happening,” he said.

The fire stared with a space heater late on Wednesday night and quickly climbed through the three-storey house, authorities said.

The family apparently tried to extinguish the flames themselves, but those on the upper floors were trapped.

Magassa lost four sons — Bandiougou, 11; Mahamadou, 8; Abudubucary, 5; and Bilaly, 1; and his 3-year-old daughter Diaba. Their mother and six siblings survived.

“It’s very, very, very sad what has happened,” said Imam Mahamadou Soukouna, a family friend. He described Magassa, an official of the New York chapter of the international High Council for Malians Living Abroad, as “the best in our community”.

Twenty-two people in all lived in the home’s two apartments, 17 of them children.

At least three children were among the injured.