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19 dead in South Siberian dorm fire
19 people were confirmed dead in the dormitory fire in Russia’s internal republic of Tyva in South Siberia. 14 bodies and numerous fragments of bodies were found in the blockage, ITAR-TASS news agency reported citing aide of Russian Emergency Minister, Viktor Beltsov. The building burnt down completely. The information on the dead appeared only after the firefighters started investigating the blockage. The whole number of the people registered in the dormitory was 130, Beltsov was quoted by the agency as saying. 107 people were evacuated during the fire, 24 taken to hospitals with burns. 15 of the injured are children. According to the unverified information, most of the dead were not registered in the dormitory, Beltsov said. The real number of residents may be much higher. According to early estimates, up to 200 bodies may remain under the rubble. Eyewitnesses say that only one door of the dormitory was open and the windows of the building were covered with metal grids and many of the residents failed to escape from the burning building. Rescue work has been complicated by the fact that night air temperatures in Tyva reached —26 degrees Celsius. Water from fire engines froze over the debris and the remains of the dead people cannot be retrieved. The local parliament observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims at the beginning of an extraordinary session on Wednesday. One official suggested illegal electricity lines set up by the residents could have caused the fire after the dormitory was disconnected from the electricity mains over unpaid bills. |
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