A man survived a fire in his West Reykjavík apartment on May 22 by breaking a window to escape, sustaining serious injuries. He believes a co-tenant, who died in the blaze along with another resident, deliberately set the fire using gasoline.
Asleep when the fire started
As previously reported, a fire broke out in an apartment on Hjarðarhagi in West Reykjavík last week.
Sári Morg Gergö was asleep at the time but managed to survive the blaze by breaking a window. He sustained serious injuries and is recovering at the National University Hospital of Iceland (Landspítali).
Writing on Facebook yesterday, Sári stated that he believes his co-tenant deliberately set the fire.
“Five days ago, on the 22nd, my apartment was allegedly set on fire with gasoline and gas canisters by someone who had been living with me for several years. It happened early in the morning while a third roommate and I were asleep.”
Broke the window with his fist
Sári noted that the fire had already reached the inside of his room by the time he awoke. The intensity of the heat was “unbelievable.”
“While trying to help my friend escape, I suffered burns,” Sári continued. “With no other option, I managed to break my window with my fist. Since the window started at neck height, I had to make a huge leap through the glass, falling about 70 cm and landing on the shards, hitting my right shoulder and back.
This resulted in two massive cuts—one long cut on my thigh and another horizontal one on my wrist, both bleeding heavily. I ran back to the front door and made one last attempt to save my friend Roman, but I was unsuccessful.”
Already undergone two surgeries
As noted in his Facebook post, Sári suspects that one of the tenants, who was due to move out the following day due to unpaid rent—and years of “incompatibility”—started the fire. That man died in the blaze.
According to RÚV, four men lived in the apartment: Sári and Görbe Vince from Hungary, Roman from the Czech Republic, and a fourth man from the United States.
As reported by Vísir, Roman and the American tenant perished in the fire.
Sári noted that his friend and roommate, Görbe Vince, had been at work when the fire broke out and thus escaped unharmed. Sári added that Görbe is now without possessions or a place to live.
Sári has second-degree burns on the entire left side of his body and multiple lacerations. He has already undergone two surgeries and may require two more.
