Father loses seven children in horrific New York house fire

Malfunctioning hot plate leaves Gabriel Sassoon with seven of his eight children dead.

Seven of eight children in a Jewish family were killed in Brooklyn, New York by a horrific house fire that trapped them on the second floor of their home in the middle of the night. Their mother, Gayle Sassoon and the eighth child, 14-year-old Tzipora were the only two to survive.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Gabriel Sassoon, the father, was away at a religious retreat when he received the tragic news.

On that dreadful night, he lost his sons Yakob, 5, Moshe, 8, Yeshua, 10 and David, 12, and daughters Sarah, 6, Rivkah, 11, and Elian, 15.

The remains of the seven children have been flown to Israel where they are to be buried in Jerusalem.    

Light a prayer candle for the heartbroken Sassoon family --

"They all had faces of angels," cried Gabriel during their funeral in Brooklyn. "They know how much I love them. My children were unbelievable. They were the best. But the truth is, every child is the best."

There's nothing to say! There's nothing to say!," he continued. "I want to ask my children for forgiveness. I did my best and my wife did her best."

The fire is suspected to be caused by a malfunctioning hot plate that was left on to keep food warm during the Sabbath. According to the Daily Mail, Jews do not light fires or use appliances on their day of rest.

More than 100 firefighters responded to the calls and brought the blaze under control within the hour.

"This is the largest tragedy by fire that the city has had in seven years," New York Fire Department Commissioner Daniel Nigro said during a Saturday morning news conference. "It's a tragedy for this family, it's a tragedy for this community, it's a tragedy for the city."

Neighbors reported hearing the children screaming for help as they were trapped, "Mommy, mommy help me."

Gayle tried to get the children from the other rooms but the fire was too strong. The only thing she could do was jump out of the window and find help.

"My kids are in there, get them out! Get them out," she cried out.

The family was supposed to be staying a relatives house in New Jersey that weekend, but didn't leave home because of the horrible weather conditions.

"This is an unbelievable tragedy," stated New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. "It's so painful, it's so difficult... Every New Yorker is feeling this pain right now."

"Firefighters forced their way in, extinguished fire on the first floor, which had started in the kitchen, then pushed upstairs and found the children in their bedrooms," said Nigro. "It's difficult to find one child in a room during a search. To find a houseful of seven children that can't be revived, I'm sure this will take a toll on our members for quite some time."

"Two of the children weren't breathing when they brought them out. The firefighters were running with the down the street on stretchers," explained on of the Hatzolah volunteers, who arrived on the scene to help.

Gayle was taken to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx and Tzipora was taken to Staten Island University Hospital, both in critical condition.

"I don't know if she makes it through this. I don't know how she's going to face what happened to her family," explained a family friend. "I pray that she has the sanity."

"Where will I go now? I don't have anywhere to go anymore," sobbed the heartbroken father.

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