NEW YORK (AP) — A city official says candles ringed around a bed in a voodoo ceremony in New York City that included sex ignited linens and clothes, causing a fatal apartment fire.
The blaze began around 6:40 p.m. Sunday when a woman visited a fourth-floor apartment in Brooklyn and paid a man $300 to perform a ceremony to bring her good luck. A city official says the man was known in the neighborhood as a priest and the two were having sex when the fire started. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.
Instead of calling 911, the man tried to put out the fire using water from a bathroom sink but the fire spread. A 64-year-old woman was found dead and 20 firefighters were injured.
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