NEW YORK (AP)  -- A child playing with fire is suspected of causing the weekend apartment blaze that claimed five members of a Manhattan family, authorities said Monday.

Fire marshals also said a candle is the likely cause of a fire Sunday in a Brooklyn row-house apartment that killed Shawn Monderson, 33, and his 12-year-old nephew, Cemioni Fraser.

The Brooklyn apartment had no smoke detectors and the detectors in the Manhattan apartment were not working, authorities said.

The Manhattan fire early Saturday was the city's deadliest since a March 2007 blaze in the Bronx killed 10 people, including nine children, officials said.

A survivor, a 10-year-old boy, clung to life on Monday. His parents and three younger sisters died.

All six were found unconscious, huddled in a bathroom and bedroom at the Robert Fulton public housing complex in Chelsea. Thick smoke prevented their exit through the front door; there was no fire escape.

Some firefighters wept as they carried out the lifeless bodies.

``I smelled smoke and heard bodies slamming and yelping _ yelping like a dog,'' Tashara Francis, who lives on the floor below, told the Daily News.

Firefighter Alejandro Bartley said fire marshals determined that the fire was fueled by papers on the kitchen table. A lighter or matches were recovered nearby, he said, adding that no appliances were plugged in and there were no outlets in the immediate area.

Neighbors told fire authorities that the family's children had a history of playing with lighters or matches, said Bartley. All the evidence and neighborhood interviews led authorities to deduce that the fire was caused by a child playing with fire, he said.

The victims were identified as Maschay Joa Valdez, 40; his wife, Delkis Balbuena, 34; and their daughters, 8-year-old Nancy Joa Balbuena, 2-year-old Bet-el Joa Balbuena, and 15-month-old Ruth Joa Balbuena.

Police did not release the name of the 10-year-old. But neighbors identified him as Jonzan Joa Balbuena.