YEKATERINBURG, February 25 (RIA Novosti) - A fire that swept through a residential building in the Sverdlovsk Region, Russia's south Urals, killing eight people, including two children, on Wednesday may have been started deliberately, an emergencies ministry spokesman said.
The fire, the second in the region this month, swept through the single-storey building completely destroying two of the four apartments.
"The call was received at 03:04 a.m. (22:30 GMT)... Eight bodies - two of them children - were discovered in the debris," the spokesman said, adding that the children were believed to be six and 11 years old.
A two-year-old child and a woman were treated for smoke inhalation.
A fire investigation team is working at the scene to try and establish the cause of the fire. Arson is being examined as a possible cause, he said.
On February 2 eight people, including four children, died in a blaze in the same region after an oven overheated.
