Four remain hospitalized after Cedar-Riverside fire

Four victims remain hospitalized two weeks after a New Year's Day explosion in Minneapolis.

Three survivors of the fire in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood are at Hennepin County Medical Center, where doctors had described the level of burns among some of the injured as "catastrophic." As of this week, two patients were listed this week in critical condition, and the third was in satisfactory condition.

A fourth victim, Ali Jama, is in fair condition at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview. Jama, 41, a truck driver from North Carolina, broke both legs and several ribs when he leaped out of a second-floor apartment window to escape the fire.

"I prayed, but I thought I might die," he told MPR News two days after the blast.

The bodies of two men were recovered from the rubble, and a third man later died of his injuries.

Fire officials are continuing to investigate the cause of the fire, which destroyed the Otanga grocery and displaced residents from the apartment units above the store.

A benefit at the Cedar Cultural Center on Jan. 24 will raise money for the victims and their families.

People can donate through the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota, Pillsbury United Communities, or by calling the Brian Coyle Center at 612-787-3730. A relief fund has also been set up at Wells Fargo bank locations.