The family of a Queens bartender who suffered severe burns over the weekend during a fire show at a lounge are demanding answers after her skin was left bubbled and melted.
Adriana Goden, the aunt of 27-year-old Manuela Vergara Salazar, said her niece was working at the La Oficina bar located 93-13 Roosevelt Ave. at around 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 23 when the horrific incident unfolded. She told amNewYork that a worker was allegedly performing some kind of fire show in the establishment during which he lit the bar on fire. Amid the performance, Vergara Salazar said she felt alcohol splash on her.
“She felt wet, and then immediately her hair caught on fire, and then her whole body caught on fire,” Goden said. “Nobody was trying to help her at all. A friend of hers, when he saw nothing was happening, he jumped on her.”
The victim says she feels as though she may have been targeted, while the family charges that the bar is also culpable of serious negligence.
“She feels like when she was close to the fire, they threw alcohol because she felt wet on her and then immediately caught on fire,” Goden added. “They didn’t try to put the fire out, they didn’t try to help her. They just stood there until a bystander jumped in.”
NYPD sources confirmed that the incident took place, stating in a report that witnesses told police that the flames shot higher than usual and sent patrons running.
amNewYork reached out to La Oficina bar for comment and is awaiting a response.
Meanwhile, Vergara Salazar was left severely burned when the fire was eventually put out by a good Samaritan. Cops say a man drove the victim to Elmhurst Hospital, where she was treated and subsequently transferred to Cornell Hospital.
Vergara Salazar’s sister, 17-year-old Sara Rodas Salazar told amNewYork that the same man performing the fire trick rushed her to the hospital—instead of calling an ambulance— when she said her sister overheard him talking on his cellphone.
“While he was in the car, my sister recalled him saying he was calling all the managers in the bars, saying, ‘Oh, delete all the videos. Like, I don’t want any footage of this,’” Rodas Salazar said. “My sister was just like, in the back, obviously, in shock, didn’t know what to do.”
Vergara Salazar hails from Colombia and was working as a bartender to support her 2-year-old son. Her family says doctors are still diagnosing the wounds and will not be able to tell the degree of the injuries until the coming days. She is expected to be in the hospital for over a month after her skin was melted.
“Her entire world just got turned upside down. Everybody around her just knows that she’s a very, very nice girl, and she does not deserve this whatsoever. All she’s been doing is crying. She’s been asking me if she looks ugly,” Rodas Salazar said, adding that she and her mother have been left alone to take care of her sister’s child.
While police report that no arrests have been made and the investigation remains ongoing, her family is pleading for answers. They say they are desperately trying to understand how their entire lives went up in smoke.
“We want to know what happened, we want to gain the video of what happened,” Goden said.
