Firefighters work at the fire site of the Odessa College of Economics, Law and Hotel and Restaurant Business in Odessa, Ukraine, Dec. 6, 2019. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that the person killed in a college fire in the south of the country was a student and that the death toll might rise with 14 still missing and 27 injured. (Photo by Sergey Starostenko/Xinhua)
KIEV, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that the person killed in a college fire in the south of the country was a student and that the death toll might rise with 14 still missing and 27 injured.
On his official Facebook page, Zelensky clarified that the victim of the fire was not an employee of an educational institution, as previously reported, but a 16-year-old student.
He further indicated that 14 people are still missing. The number was not revealed in the previous report, which means more people may have perished in the fire which had been contained by Thursday morning.
The State Emergency Service informed that the fire occurred in the building of the educational institution in Odessa in southern Ukraine on Wednesday at 10:12 a.m. local time (0812 GMT) on the third floor of the six-story building of the Odessa College of Economics, Law and Hotel and Restaurant Business. About 400 people were in the building at the time of the accident.
The total area of the fire in the college building exceeded 4,000 square meters. The firefighters evacuated 40 people, many of whom were rushed to the hospital.
Authorities have opened a probe into the blaze. The mayor of Odessa said the city would observe two days of mourning on Thursday and Friday.
