An elderly Manhattan couple died after fires ravaged their luxury high-rise apartment Saturday before dawn and sent flames roaring out the windows.
Mary Merow, 85-year-old died at the scene and her husband John Merow, 89, was transferred to Weill Cornell Medical Center where he died of his injuries. Investigators said that cigarette smoking may be the possible cause of the fire.
The fire started at about 5 a.m. in the couple's ninth-floor apartment ravaging its dozen rooms filling them with smoke. The elderly woman was found suffering severe burns, unresponsive. Three firefighters were also hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
The cause of the fire at the Art Deco building overlooking the FDR Drive and the East River remain under investigation.
