US News

QUEENS FIRE KILLS BOY, 5

A 5-year-old boy left home alone after his brother decided to go out and do his taxes died this morning after a fire ripped through his family’s Queens apartment, authorities said.

The boy’s hysterical mother arrived shortly after firefighters started combating the blaze at 10:20 a.m. and she had to be held back from running into the two-story inferno.

Firefighters found the boy, who was not immediately identified, curled up behind a TV set in his bedroom at 98th St. in Corona, said FDNY Assistant Chief John Acerno.

“It appears the child was home alone,” Acerno said.

Investigators believe the fire began in the kitchen.

“His mom came here. She was crying; she told me it was him. She said, ‘Oh, I want to kill myself, I want to kill myself,'” said Diony Fernandez, 12, a witness.

The boy’s brother apparently locked the boy inside the home, shirking his babysitting duties in order to meet his accountant, neighbors and relatives said.

“His mom said his brother was with him,” Fernandez said. “I don’t know what happened.”