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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, April 10, 2003

28 Die in Fire at Russian School for Deaf

A fire raged through a boarding school for the deaf in southern Russia early Thursday, killing 28 children and injuring about 100 others, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.


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A fire raged through a boarding school for the deaf in southern Russia early Thursday, killing 28 children and injuring about 100 others, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

Rescue efforts at the school in Makhachkala were slowed by the need to wake the children individually because they could not hear alarms. Some of the children were found cowering under furniture, officials said.

Firefighters saved 138 people from the blaze, said ministry spokeswoman Marina Ryklina. Officials said the fire may have been caused by a short circuit when electricity was restored to the building after a blackout.

Some 100 sustained burns and smoke poisoning, the Interfax news agency reported. Emergency officials said 16 were in serious condition.

The children who died were mostly 6- and 7-year-old boys, emergency officials in Makhachkala said.

Emergency crews said in the rush to get the children to safety, some were thrown out windows and caught by rescuers standing outside. Winds hindered efforts to put out the blaze.

Television footage showed smoke pouring out of the barred windows of the yellow brick building hours after the fire broke out. The walls were charred, and all the windows had shattered.

An Emergency Situations Ministry plane left Moscow for Makhachkala with medications for the injured.

Fifty people a day 18,000 a year die in fires in Russia. Most are caused by people smoking while drinking or others who are just plain careless. There are also inadequate fireproofing and alarm systems in many buildings.

Source: Agencies




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