2 Dead After Being Trapped in South Side Fire

The two victims were trapped in the attic of the residence

Two people were killed in a house fire Wednesday morning in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the South Side.

The fire was reported at 8:37 a.m. in the 2000 block of West 53rd Street, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

A teenage boy and a “young adult” man were trapped in the attic and killed in the blaze, fire officials said.

Chicago police said six people were inside the house when the fire broke out, and that the 16-year-old boy and 24-year-old man were unable to escape as the second floor and attic burned.

One was dead at the scene while the other was taken to a hospital and later died, according to Fire Media Affairs spokesman Larry Merritt. No other injuries were reported.

Fire officials said water was “not an issue” at the fire despite the subzero temperatures Wednesday morning.

Ambulances and warming buses were still at the scene shortly before 11 a.m., police said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Copyright Chicago Sun-Times
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