A family of three were among the six Ghanaians killed in the fire in the New York suburb of Bronx that claimed the lives of at least 12 people, Ghanaguardian.com can reveal.

Solomon Donkor, 49, his 17-old-daughter Hannah Adoma Donkor and his 12-year-old son William Donkor were found dead in apartment 19.

Army soldier Emmanuel Mensah, 28, Gabriel Yaw Sarkordie, 48 and Justice Opoku, 54 were the other Ghanaians who perished in the fire at the apartment in Bronx.

All the six Ghanaians were caught up in the fire in their apartment as they sat unaware that the inferno had engulfed their homes.

The deaths has left the Ghanaian community in New York devastated over the number of their fellow nationals who perished in the fire.

A 3-year-old boy's screams alerted his mother that a fire had erupted in their first-floor apartment in the Bronx on Thursday night.

The boy had been playing with the burners on the kitchen stove, New York fire officials said.

When the mother fled the burning apartment with the boy and his 2-year-old sibling, she made a fatal mistake -- she left the apartment door open.

The tragic result was the deaths of at least 12 people, including at least four children, the New York Police Department said.

It was the deadliest fire in New York City in more than 25 years.