The current official count of the victims of the college fire in Odesa on Dec. 4 puts the casualties at four killed, 11 missing and about 30 hospitalized, according to the information by Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
While the cause of the fire is not yet known, one possible reason is the building’s old electrical wiring, which has not been changed since 1966, Korrespondent.net news portal reports.
Kseniya Babenko, a 16-year old student of the local Economics, Law and Hotel Management College, died in the fire.
Anna Bortyuk, 43, a lecturer at the college, also died during the fire due to poisoning by fumes. Bortyuk’s body was found on the site of the catastrophe on Dec. 5.
The third victim has not yet been identified. Oleksandr Krytsky, deputy chairman of the Odesa oblast emergency service said that it was a man. No information is available on the fourth victim.
As of 1 p.m on Dec. 6, Krytsky also said that “there was no hope that there were any survivors in the building.” Krytsky’s personnel had searched all the unaffected areas of the building.
The 11 missing people include five college students and two researchers from the Marine Biology Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The institute is located in the same building as the college, on 25 Troyitska Street in downtown Odesa.
Five of those hospitalized were in serious condition as of Dec 5, 2019. Seven firefighters have been hospitalized, too.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the “heroic fight of our firefighting and emergency” crews in his statement published on Dec. 5, 2019. The emergency teams saved 40 people during the rescue efforts.
The president asked Odesa Oblast and city officials to assist survivors. The city of Odesa has announced two official days of mourning.
