Elderly couple die in luxury Manhattan high-rise blaze

NEW YORK (AP) — An elderly Manhattan couple died in a blaze that engulfed their luxury high-rise apartment before dawn Saturday and sent flames roaring out the windows.

Fire officials say the 85-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the famed River House co-op on East 52nd Street. Her 89-year-old husband was rushed to Weill Cornell Medical Center but died of his injuries. Three firefighters were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

The fire started just after 5 a.m. in the couple's ninth-floor apartment, filling its dozen or so rooms with smoke. Officials say the woman was found unresponsive, with severe burns.

The cause of the blaze at the Art Deco building overlooking the FDR Drive and the East River is under investigation.