LOS ANGELES -- Five survivors of an apartment fire Saturday, including twin sisters, remained in critical condition Monday while authorities worked to identify some of the 19 victims.
The fire, of unknown origin, raced through the four-story Dorothy Mae apartment hotel before dawn Saturday and killed 18 persons when they panicked and fled into narrow smoke and flame-filled hallways
Another victim, a 14-month-old boy, died hours later.
Many of the victims were so badly burned that information about tatoos, broken bones, tooth fillings, scars or clothing was needed to identify them, policeman Roy Bentley said.
Ten victims were children. Ten survivors remained hospitalized, five of them in critical condition, two in serious condition and three regarded as good.
Among the critical were Marcella De La Torre, at County-USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, and her twin sister, Martina, at University of California, Irvine, Medical Center in Orange County. The 22-year-old women both suffered burns over 90 percent of their bodies.
Also critical was an unidentified 15-year-old boy at the Sherman Oaks Burn Center; Josefine De La Torre, 30, and Maria De La Torre, 5, both with burns over 85 percent of their bodies at Brotman Memorial Hospital.
Francesca De La Torre, and Jesus Salezar, both 56, were reported in serious condition.
About 200 people, mostly Hispanics, lived in the aging Sunset Boulevard building near downtown Los Angeles.
Investigators looking into the cause of the blaze said the survivors were cooperative, although some seemed fearful.
'I think some of them were afraid we might be immigration,' said Bentley, head of a volunteer disaster relief group, referring to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
'On top of that, a lot of them were very, very emotional. They didn't want to have to give up hope. No one wanted to think that their friend or relative was dead.'