The family of an 11-month-old who lost his life after suffering burns from a malfunctioning steam radiator rallied at the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall, calling on the city to take action.
Binyomin Zachariah was only 20 days away from celebrating his first birthday when the radiator in his bedroom malfunctioned and took his life. The Zachariah family says that they found out after from the Department of Buildings that the radiator had an issue with the connection to the valve.
The family of Zachariah and friends of the family say they are asking for a new bill to require yearly inspections for all radiators. They say that in the city, many things require routine inspections and that radiators should not be exempt from that.
“Our baby boy's life was taken because these buildings were not maintained properly, and because these buildings were not carefully inspected, and because our building got neglected,” said Bessie Kuravski, mother of Binyomin.
The Department of Buildings tells News 12 that it strongly urges landlords to invest in proper upkeep to avoid catastrophic incidents like these.