A 62-year-old man died and his 87-year-old mother was seriously injured in a fire that engulfed their Queens apartment early Tuesday.
Henri Schwan and his elderly mother, Rosario, were in a second-floor apartment in the six-story residential building in Jamaica Estates when flames erupted shortly after 5 a.m.
Firefighters were able rescue Schwan's bedridden mother, but they said his room was too far back in the apartment to reach in time.
Schwan died at the scene. His mother was taken to Booth Memorial Hospital in serious condition. A firefighter suffered minor injuries and was also taken to a nearby hospital.
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Carlos Mairen, a maintenance worker in the building, remembered Schwan as a devoted son.
"He used to take his mother shopping and help her all the time," Mairen said. "He always was taking care of his mom."
The cause of the blaze remains under investigation, but police say it does not appear suspicious.
