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AP - New York City deli Owner Mohammed Al Matari kept pouring water on two people who had run into his New York City store engulfed in flames.
"The fire was all over them - I used gallons of water, six or seven of them," Al Matari said following the blaze on Sunday that tore through a three-story building in Queens, killing three and injuring at least 10, including several firefighters.
Victims, their clothes and hair ablaze, leapt from windows in desperate attempts to escape the flames.
The two who fled into Al Matari's bodega, William Salazar and Agnes Bermudez, survived the fire that has been deemed suspicious, and were taken in critical condition to Cornell Hospital.
"It's not easy to see someone on fire," Al Matari said in Monday editions of the Daily News. "I did the best I could."
The fire was reported Sunday morning in a Queens building that has the deli on the ground floor and apartments on the second and third floors, firefighters said.
William Salazar, was on fire when he ran into the deli, screaming, "Put me out! Put me out! Put me out!" witnesses said.
Al Matari said he told the burning people to go into the street so he could soak them with water.
"I put the water from the top to the bottom," he said, pointing to seven empty 1-gallon jugs of water on the sidewalk outside the brick building in the Middle Village neighborhood. "We're feeling so bad to see somebody burn. So we did the best we could."
Customer George Ztgajewicz was in the deli when the couple ran into the store. "It was a horrifying sight," the 43-year-old told the Daily News. "Some things people shouldn't have to see. They were on fire from their head down to their knees."
Heriberto Garcia-Vera, 68, died at the scene, police said. Felipe Garcia, 20, and Flor Sandoval, 48, died later at hospitals. At least five other people were hospitalized, and six firefighters suffered minor injuries.
Witnesses said the neighborhood filled with black smoke from the fire. They said one woman who jumped from a window to escape the flames landed on the deli's awning but two others landed in the street.
The fire was reported at 7:36 a.m., and firefighters said they were on the scene 3 minutes later and had the fire under control within 40 minutes.
Firefighters said they didn't know the cause of the blaze, which was deemed suspicious. Fire marshals were investigating.
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