Adult, child leap to deaths from burning building

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A 45-year-old man and a 5-year-old boy leapt to their deaths Tuesday after a fire swept through an apartment building, authorities said.

Both were on the top floor of a six-story apartment building when the fire started on the fifth floor at around 8:30 p.m., the New York City Fire Department said.

Officials believe the pair were trying to escape the thick smoke that filled parts of the sixth floor when they jumped out an apartment window.

Fire officials said the sixth floor sustained heavy smoke damage.

Eight others, including two firefighters, were hospitalized with minor injuries. Investigators are trying to determine what caused the fire.