KIEV: A fire swept through a children鈥檚 camp in Ukraine鈥檚 Black Sea port of Odessa, killing two girls and leaving a third one missing, the authorities said on Saturday.
The fire broke out late Friday in the camp鈥檚 wooden two-story building where children slept in the resort city of Odessa some 440 kilometers (south of the Ukrainian capital Kiev, the emergencies state service said.
After the blaze was put out three girls aged between 8 and 12 were unaccounted for and later 鈥渇ragments of two burned children鈥檚 bodies were found鈥� during work to clear away the debris, the service said in a statement.
The search for a third missing child was under way.
Two more children were hospitalized, added the service, noting that the cause of the fire has yet to be established.
Police said they had opened a criminal case into the blaze.
Deadly fires are common in Ukraine and other post-Soviet countries owing to outdated infrastructure and a lax approach to fire safety.
In May 2016, a fire killed 17 people in a privately-run care home for the elderly outside Kiev, while in 2011 another blaze left 16 people dead in another home in Ukraine鈥檚 northwest Rivne region.
Two children die in Ukraine camp fire
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