By Anita Chang
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - A fire believed to arson engulfed an apartment complex Sunday, killing 10 people and forcing others to jump from third-story windows, firefighters said.

All 10 victims, including a child, lived in the same apartment on the third floor, which was destroyed in the quickly moving fire, Prairie Township Fire Chief Steve Feustel said.

The fire broke out about 2:30 a.m. at the 24-unit Lincoln Park Apartments in suburban Columbus. The flames left a wooden skeleton exposed above melted siding. At least 53 people were left homeless.

Two people, including a woman who jumped from a window, were treated and released from Mount Carmel West hospital, a nursing supervisor said. Authorities wouldn't say Sunday whether others were still missing.

"My family is dead," survivor Antonio Noriega said, leaning against a neighboring building. He said his brother, sister-in-law, three nephews and five others lived in the two-bedroom apartment where the first bodies were found. He did not think that any of them made it out.

Noriega, who was wearing a vest but no shirt, had jumped out the window of his first-floor apartment. He said firefighters pulled him from a ladder as he tried to rescue those on the third floor.

"My family, they're sleeping, and the fire is coming fast," he said. "I can't help my brothers."

Feustel said it was suspicious that the fire burned so fiercely in a hallway, where there were few flammable materials, and blocked people from escaping.

The fire came about six weeks after three fires were set in the same building in an empty apartment and hallway, he said.

Feustel said it appeared the first victims found had been trying to escape the flames.

"They were out of their beds. They didn't die in their sleep."

Noriega said the victims were immigrants from Mexico and came to Columbus four years ago. Many in the family worked together at a landscaping company.

Feustel said the fire started either in the basement or the first floor, but the cause was not known.