by VERONIKA BELENKAYA, PETER KADUSHIN and ROBERT F. MOORE
Tears running down his smoke-blackened face, a frantic Bronx father ran from his burning apartment early yesterday carrying his badly burned daughter - as her younger sister perished inside.
"I can't find my girl!" screamed Diogenes Felix, whose 5-year-old daughter, Sarah, died in the 3 a.m. fire. "I couldn't get her!"
Felix's 6-year-old daughter, Angela was in critical condition yesterday at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell in Manhattan.
After saving Angela, who was burned over 70% of her body, Felix went back into the flames to find Sarah but was quickly overcome by the fire.
"The smoke was too bad!" the 44-year-old screamed, according to witnesses. "Please get my little one! She's still in the apartment!"
At least one neighbor and the building superintendent - a longtime friend from the Dominican Republic - tried to help Felix, but they, too, were beaten back by the smoke pouring out of the three-bedroom apartment at 2076 Bronx Park East.
A source said the blaze was ignited by a candle left on a cardboard box in the kids' bedroom.
It was not clear how the candle's flame spread, but it quickly ignited nearby boxes and bedding, officials said.
Felix's wife, Rosemary, 36, and their 12-year-old son, Diogenes Jr., also escaped the fire and were taken to Jacobi Medical Center, where they were treated for minor injuries and released.
Felix was in serious condition at Jacobi Medical Center with second-degree burns to his back, face and arms, injuries he suffered trying to get to Sarah.
"He can't talk. He just looked at me and cried," said Felix's brother Jorge, 48.
Relatives comforted the grieving mom in a waiting room at Jacobi Medical Center before taking her to Weill Cornell to be with her critically injured daughter.
"Oh, my God!" she screamed. "My little baby! Help me, Lord. Give me strength, Lord."
"Physically, she is okay," Jorge Felix said of the mom. "Mentally, she's destroyed."
The Bronx couple's 12-year-old son spotted the fire after he got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. He ran and told his parents before pounding on neighbors' doors to get help.
"One of my sisters breathed in a lot of smoke," the boy told the Daily News. "And my other sister died."
More than 100 residents were evacuated from the Pelham Parkway building. Sixty firefighters rushed to the scene and got the blaze under control within an hour, officials said.
Sarah, a first-grader at Public School 105, was only the second person in the city to die this year in a fire sparked by a candle. Last year, there were 16 such deaths, FDNY officials said.
Relatives remembered Sarah as an adorable, curly-haired girl who loved to play dress-up, along with her sister, while wearing her mom's clothes.
"She walked around like she was a model," said her aunt, Elisa Felix, 48, smiling through her tears. "They're a beautiful family. It's just a shame."
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