18 foreign students killed in fire at Moscow dorm
( 2003-11-24 11:03) (AP)
A fire broke out at a
university dormitory in Moscow early Monday, killing 18 foreign students and
injuring some 80 other people as residents of the five-story building jumped
from windows to escape the smoke and flames, the Interfax news agency reported.
The blaze was burning on the second, third and fourth floors of a dormitory
belonging to the Patrice Lumumba Friendship of Peoples University, where many
foreigners study, a duty officer at the Moscow fire department said. She said
there were dead and injured but could not confirm the number or nationality of
the victims.
Firefighters found the bodies of foreign students at the site of the blaze in
southwestern Moscow, Interfax reported. Citing a foreign students' union, it
said the dead and injured included citizens of China, Bangladesh, Vietnam and
several African countries.
Interfax reported that firefighters used ladders to evacuate students, but
that some residents broke limbs or suffered head and neck injuries when they
jumped from windows, while others suffered from smoke inhalation. It said the
fire was extinguished before dawn, about three hours after the alarm was
sounded.
The university, named for a Congolese revolutionary, was founded by Soviet
leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1960. Once a showcase where students from Third
World nations received subsidized educations with a strict Marxist curriculum,
the university declined as the Soviet Union collapsed and its buildings became
run-down.
|
