‘They were just the best people’: the 17 victims of the Bronx fire

The victims included eight children and several members of two families, devastating New York borough's west African community

They came from countries in west Africa, nearly all of them from the Gambia, and settled in Twin Parks Towers Northeast, a 19-story apartment building full of working-class families from the region and Latin America.

Some of them were born here to parents from the Gambia, volunteering in local community groups, attending local mosques, enrolling in local schools and colleges hoping for a future in social work, economics and justice.