Residents of a burning Bronx building — including a 9-year-old and his older brother — frantically climbed down fire escapes to escape Monday morning, cops and witnesses said.
“I heard the [little] boy screaming, ‘Help me! Help me!” said witness Emily Rivera, 40.
“I saw people walking down the ladder. It was nerve-racking to watch.”
The 9-year-old, Abukar Diallo, told The Post that his older brother struggled to open a window before punching it out so the two could flee their building at 851 E. 163rd St. in Foxhurst around 11:40 a.m.
“My brother tries to open the window,” Abukar said. “I told him to punch it. There was lots of smoke everywhere. He was able to open it, and we ran down. It was scary.”
There were 12 people injured in the blaze, including two firefighters and a cop, the FDNY said. None of the injuries were life-threatening.
About 100 firefighters battled the blaze, which broke out on the second floor of the five-story building and took about an hour to extinguish.
A shaken Mukhtar Ali, 32, who lives on the second floor, said the blaze burned his apartment.
“I don’t know what happened,” he said. “I have all my stuff there, money paper and everything. I don’t know what to do.”
The cause of the blaze is still under investigation, officials said.