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Fire Kills 7, Including 3 Children, in Southern Russia

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At least seven people, including a family of five, were killed in a New Year’s fire in southern Russia’s Orenburg region.

Authorities said the victims may have died from smoke inhalation in the town of Orsk, some 1,800 kilometers southeast of Moscow. Children aged 4 and 6, as well as a five-month-old newborn, are said to be among those killed.

“The bodies of two guests were also found: a man and woman who came to celebrate the New Year holiday,” the Investigative Committee, which opened a criminal case into death by negligence, said Wednesday.

Regional emergency services named a short-circuit in the private home’s kitchen as the preliminary cause of the fire.

Orsk’s administration announced a three-day state of emergency in connection with the deadly blaze as of Wednesday.

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