Brooklyn mom killed in fire makes heartbreaking plea to husband

By CHRISTINA CARREGA and LORENA MONGELLI

MIGUEL CHAN -- "I tried to save her."

"Please take care of the children."

Those were the tearful last words Luisa Ordoñez told husband Miguel Chan yesterday, seconds before she lost consciousness from the heavy smoke filling their Brooklyn apartment.

"She said, 'I can't. I can't anymore,' and she said, 'Please take care of the children.' Then she fainted," a devastated Chan, 40, told The Post last night.

Clutching his wife's hand as she slipped away, he tried to give her a last bit of comfort.

"Don't lose your faith in God," he recalled telling his bride of four years.

Just moments earlier, Ordoñez had been awakened by the smell of smoke in their Bensonhurst home. The couple sprang into action to save their 2-year-old son and 2-month-old daughter.

"I tried to open the door, but it was too hot," Chan said. "So I picked up a chair and broke a window. I was pleading for help for my kids. A guy on the street told me to throw my children and that he would help me."

Ordoñez strapped Maria Maura into her car seat and Chan tossed her from the third-floor window to neighbor Jorge Morales.

But the little girl slipped through Morales' hands and hit the pavement. She was in critical condition with a fractured skull last night at Schneider Children's Hospital in New Hyde Park, LI, but was expected to live.

Chan, who works as a plumber and came to the United States 10 years ago, then lowered Josias down to neighbors who had managed to escape the blaze.

"Thank God I was able to save my kids," he said. "After they were safe, I attempted to save my wife, but the fire was too much."

He added that couldn't bring himself to let go of his wife's hand, pulling her to the window with his remaining strength.

But it was too late.

"I tried to save her," he said, "but I couldn't."

Additional reporting by Tim Perone