An 11-month-old baby died this Friday, January 19, in the Brooklyn neighborhood of New York (United States).
The young child suffered serious burns caused by steam from a radiator in the apartment he was in, reports CBS News.
The New York police were notified after emergency services were called around 6 a.m.
Responding services found the baby unconscious in a room filled with steam coming from a radiator with a possibly broken pipe, police said.
The baby, a little boy, suffered significant burns and was pronounced dead shortly after being taken to hospital.
For the moment, no one has been arrested in this case, specifies ABC News, adding that the name of the baby has not been made public.
The building inspected, an illegal laundry room discovered
The New York Police Department requested an inspection of the building "due to a faulty radiator that was causing steam in the bedroom."
A “corroded” radiator pipe and damage to the ceiling and floor were observed in the apartment, according to New York Department of Buildings (DOB) records.
They were able to access the building's boiler.
There had been no recent complaints or recorded violations at the property, according to the DOB, but inspectors discovered that a laundry room had been constructed in the basement illegally.
Their investigation established that the nipple connection
(a piece of plumbing)
to the radiator valve was faulty and was venting steam into the room.
An evacuation order taken for the entire building
One neighbor told CBS New York that the heating in the building was sometimes too high, but another neighbor said he never noticed it.
“I see them almost every day.
I know they have a newborn, it’s horrible,” he said.
The baby's parents left the building shortly after a partial evacuation order was posted on the front door.
The building's owner and superintendent said the heating system appeared to be working properly in the other apartments.
Investigators are now focusing on the building's steam heating security system.
In 2016, two babies died in a similar accident in New York, this time in the Bronx district.