11-year-old boy dies in Coney Island hi-rise fire

An 11-year-old boy died in a fire Tuesday that ripped through a Coney Island high-rise apartment, FDNY officials said.

The child was home alone in a 15th-floor apartment in Ocean Towers on W. 24th St. when the fire erupted around 12:15 p.m., witnesses said.

Firefighters rushed the boy from the smoke-filled apartment in a desperate attempt to keep him alive, horrified witnesses said.

"They were pumping his heart," Elphine Ahrendts, 14, said. "His eyes were red [and] he only had on underwear."

"He wasn't breathing," Elphine said. "They couldn't help him."  The boy - whose name was not released - died a short time later at Coney Island Hospital.

He lived with his grandmother, who had stepped out to go to the store moments before the fire started. She broke down and wept when she returned home and saw the boy's lifeless body.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, officials said.

Hours earlier, a 60-year-old grandmother died after surging flames trapped her inside her Queens apartment, witnesses and FDNY officials said.

Deborah Kelly could not escape her home on the 17th floor of a Lefrak City building just before 3 a.m. when flames ripped through her living room and blocked the front door, witnesses said.

Kelly's neighbor smelled the smoke and tried to warn residents on the floor. He feared the worst when he felt the heat radiating behind Kelly's door.

"[The neighbor] went up to Deborah's door and felt the heat so he knew it was coming from there," said Loretta Henderson, who also lives on the floor. "He knocked, but didn't get an answer. So, he called 911."

Firefigthers reached the building in just three minutes, but couldn't save Kelly.

"The Fire Department was here quickly, and when they opened up the door, a lot of thick, black smoke blew out," said a shaken Henderson. "That's when they went in and found her."

Kelly was already dead, officials said. No one else was injured in the blaze, which firefighters battled for about 40 minutes.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but doesn't appear suspicious, FDNY officials said.

Neighbors said Kelly, a mother of two, lived in the 57th Ave. building for about 12 years. She shared her apartment with a daughter and a granddaughter. They weren't home at the time of the fire, the neighbors said.

"She was a very lovely person," Henderson said. "They're a close family. It's sad."