Jersey Journal
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BAYONNE, N.J. — Family members of the man found dead in the ruins of 134 West 11th St. after a fire Sunday are outraged that police and firefighters did not discover him until a full day after the blaze. They claim several people told police officers that he was still inside as the home became a charred husk.
Bayonne Police Director Mark Smith confirmed yesterday that cops were told the man Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio identified as Bahgat Mosaad, 33, was inside the burning house on Sunday.
DeFazio said Mosaad was found Monday afternoon under a pile of debris in the bathroom of an attic apartment which, according to fire code officials, was illegal.
Relatives said Mosaad had lived in Bayonne for eight years and had been renting the apartment month-to-month for 11 months.
“Several people approached several police officers at the scene of the fire and alerted us and made us aware of their concerns that there was in fact somebody still in that building,” Smith said. “We relayed that information to the appropriate fire personnel.”
Bayonne’s acting fire chief, Patrick Boyle, said that at the same time people were telling police there was another person in the home, firefighters were hearing that everyone who lived there was accounted for.
“There was a firefighter asking, ‘Is everybody here, do I have everybody,’ ” Boyle said. “He checked with as many people as he could.”
Boyle could not be reached last night to confirm or deny that police told firefighters there was another person in the burning building.
Boyle said attempts to reach the attic were thwarted by flames.
“During the early stages of the fire, the attic was fully involved,” he said. “I mean nothing but fire from the front of the attic to the back.”
Police said Monday that firefighters could not find the stairwell to the attic, which was next to the bathroom where Mosaad was found, and the flames thwarted attempts to continue searching.
Fire officials said Monday that a legal attic apartment would have had a second stairwell or some other means to get inside.
At the time of the fire, firefighters believed 15 people lived in the home, Boyle said. As more individuals checked in with them after the ashes had settled, he said, firefighters accounted for 18 residents.
Members of Mosaad’s family are angry and frustrated that firefighters did not enter the attic Sunday, and say a police officer at the house Monday, still believing everyone had been accounted for, refused to call for another search.
“It’s a house on fire,” said Mark Girgis, Mosaad’s cousin. “They have to check the whole house. They didn’t do their job at all.”
“We begged him just to check,” Girgis said. “I didn’t understand why he refused to check.”
Police Director Smith said his officer responded to the family members’ concerns and requested the firefighters there to conduct another search. That’s when Mosaad’s body was found in the attic.
Yesterday, Girgis and his relatives described Mosaad as a kind-hearted man with a great sense of humor. “He was loved by everyone,” Girgis said.
Mosaad’s father, Morris, was distraught. “I lost my son, the best thing in my life,” he said.