A college sophomore killed in last weekend’s tragic Bronx fire tried to escape the blaze with her family — but got separated from them in the smoke and flames and never made it out, her heartbroken father recalled Wednesday.
Tijan Janneh said he lost sight of his daughter, Sera, as the blazing building’s lights went out — and though he went back to the apartment to look for her, he would never see her alive again.
“We were all together and all of us, about six of us, tried to escape together,” Janneh, 61, recalled. “When there was fire, we went to the fourth floor and the dark smoke was everywhere. The whole building’s lights had gone off. We couldn’t see each other, so we were split up.”
Janneh said he couldn’t see anything, so he gripped a wall and climbed back to the family’s sixth-floor apartment.
“Sera was left behind,” Janneh said. “In the end, I was back at the apartment; it was so hard to breathe. And the fireman came and got us out. He said all my children were out and all fine.”
But that wasn’t the case, Janneh would later learn, as firefighters told him that one of his daughters had died in the blaze. Sera’s sister, Isatou Janneh, 18, remained in critical condition at a hospital Wednesday, still fighting the impact of inhaling the thick smoke, he said.
“She has smoke inhalation,” Janneh said. “When I went to hospital, she was breathing with the help of the machine.”
Twenty-seven-year-old Sera’s body was discovered by firefighters in a hallway of the building, where 17 people died, her father said. He remembered her Wednesday as someone well-liked by nearly everyone she met, a kind soul who wanted to make people close to her feel loved.
“She was very kind, respectful, very humble and hard-working,” Janneh said. “She went to work all the time and was good at school. She had no problems. She was always helping and caring.”
Sera, a sophomore who studied psychology at Lehman College, was hoping to become a social worker, her best friend of more than a decade told The Post.
“I’m still processing it,” Breanna Elleston, 27, told The Post of Sera’s tragic demise. “Even last night, I had a dream that she called me and I answered it and I said, ‘I thought you were gone.’ She said, ‘No,’ and I was really relieved.”
In Elleston’s dream, the pair “ended up meeting up” to just sit around and talk, she said — exactly what Sera loved to do most.
“And I woke up feeling a little bit better,” said Elleston, of Brooklyn. “After that dream, I felt a little bit comforted even thought I woke up to reality.”
But the pain of Sera’s absence is still searing, Elleston said.
“She was my best friend, I was her best friend,” she continued. “We really enjoyed going to concerts and music festivals together and we also really liked traveling together.”
The pair had gone to Atlanta and Los Angeles, where they made some “really great memories” together, as well as the annual Afropunk music festival in 2015. D’Angelo and other soul artists were Sera’s favorite, although she “was obsessed” with singer Chris Brown in high school, Elleston said.
But what Sera truly enjoyed doing most was simply connecting with someone.
“She really, really loved to sit around and have a drink and just have a conversation, deep discussions about what’s going on in the world,” Elleston said. “She was very invested in getting to know people in general.”
Strangers and friends alike felt Sera’s “comforting energy” anytime they were in her presence, Elleston said.
“You felt safe around her, you felt like she was trustworthy,” Elleston said. “She was a very, very positive person, very uplifting. She was my cheerleader, always rooting me on.”
Sera and Elleston had been tight since meeting in 2009 while they attended the High School for Health Professions and Human Services in Manhattan. The close bond only grew in ensuing years, with Sera coming to Elleston’s aide when a fire displaced her from her Brooklyn home last summer.
“She helped me out emotionally,” Elleston recalled. “At times when I wanted to isolate myself, she would push me to go out and go do something fun. She was always able to make me laugh — and not just laugh, but those deep belly laughs. She was very funny.”
Sera was also closely involved with the Gambian Youth Organization, a Bronx-based nonprofit focused on building future community leaders where she helped organize its Ms. Gambia pageant.
“She was a very selfless person, just overly generous and always wanting the best for people while leaving herself out along the way,” said Elleston, who works as a behavioral therapist. “She loved to give to people. That was her love language. She loved giving, she always told me that.”
In a statement to The Post early Wednesday, Lehman College officials confirmed Sera was enrolled when she died of smoke inhalation along with 16 others from Sunday’s blaze at 333 E. 181st St.
“Several additional Lehman students list the Twin Parks tower as their address and we are working to confirm that they are safe,” the statement read. “Our deepest condolences to the Janneh family and all of those who have lost friends and loved ones in Sunday’s fire. Our hearts are among those mourning in the Bronx today.”
Sera’s older sister, Mareama Janneh, 31, broke the news to Elleston Monday that Sera was among the victims of the blaze at the 19-story building believed to have been sparked by a malfunctioning heater in a duplex on its third floor.
“I just broke down, crying,” said Elleston, who was planning to put up fliers in search of her best friend. “I had a bad feeling, but once it was confirmed to me, I really broke down.”
