KIEV, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 people were injured and 9 people hospitalized after a fire broke out in a college in Odessa in south Ukraine, the State Emergency Service of Odessa said on its official Facebook page on Wednesday.
A fire hit the Odessa College of Economics, Law, Hotel, and Restaurant Business at 10 a.m. on Wednesday when the students were already in the classrooms.
Some 40 people were evacuated and 12 people including four firefighters were injured as the fire spread across 2,000 square meters of the buildings, according to the fire department.
The fire fighting operation continues as the fire keeps spreading, and there is a threat of building collapse, according to the press service of the State Emergency Service.
The local media reported that the building dates back to 1914 and is one of the architecture monuments preserved by the city administration.
The firefighters and doctors work at the scene. All circumstances of the incident are being established.
Odessa is a Black Sea port, 475 kilometers south of Ukraine's capital Kiev.
