Boy playing with stove started deadly NY fire

A three-year-old boy playing with stove burners accidentally ignited the fire that ripped through a New York apartment building, killing 12 people including four children, the city's fire department chief said Friday.

The blaze broke out Thursday evening in a 25-apartment building near the Bronx Zoo, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the US financial capital.

Four people remain in a critical condition following the inferno, which Mayor Bill de Blasio called the "worst fire tragedy we have seen in this city in at least a quarter century."

"We found that this fire started in a kitchen on the first floor," fire commissioner Daniel Nigro told reporters.