Five children aged 1-8 years and their mother died in a fire that broke out in a residential building in the Oryol Region in central Russia, the regional emergencies service said on Sunday.
The fire broke out on Saturday evening in an apartment in a four-storey apartment block in the Verkhovye district center. The apartment was completely burnt out, the emergencies service said.
The reasons of the incident are being investigated, the emergencies service said.
Breaches of fire safety rules are commonly the reason of fire incidents across Russia, which has an appalling fire safety record. On average, 42 people die daily in Russia in fires. In the U.S., with a population over twice as large, the figure is around 3,400 deaths a year.
VORONEZH, January 24 (RIA Novosti)
