Moscow, May 12 (IANS/RIA Novosti): Six people, five of them children aged between 18 months and seven years, died in a fire in Russia's Krasnoyarsk territory, officials said Sunday.
The fire broke out in a one-storey wooden house Saturday evening and spread to an area of more than 200 square metres, the regional emergencies service said.
"The fire left six people dead, including a girl aged 1.5 years and four boys, aged two, four, six and seven years, respectively. The identity of the sixth victim is being established," the department said.
The effort to tackle the blaze involved 33 rescuers and 14 vehicles and took about two hours.
Russia has an extremely poor fire safety record. Around 15,000 people die in fires across the country annually. In the US, with more than twice the population, the figure is around 3,400 deaths a year.