15 killed in Russia cafe blaze after flare gun discharged
Moscow (AP/PTI): A fire in a cafe in the Russian city of Kostroma killed 15 people and injured five others on Saturday, local authorities said.
The blaze erupted in the early hours after someone apparently used a flare gun during a dispute, authorities said.
Rescuers were able to evacuate 250 people. The governor of the Kostroma region, Sergei Sitnikov, said five people were slightly injured and received medical assistance.
The roof of the cafe collapsed during the fire.
A criminal investigation has been launched, and the police are searching for the person who used the flare gun.
Kostroma, a riverside city of 270,000, is located roughly 340 kilometers north of Moscow.
It wasn't the first time that pyrotechnics caused a deadly fire at a recreational venue in Russia. In 2009, more than 150 people were killed in a blaze at the Lame Horse nightclub in the city of Perm that erupted after someone set off fireworks.
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8 dead, dozens wounded in Russian strike on Ukraine's Odesa port
Kyiv (AP): Eight people were killed and 27 wounded in a Russian missile strike on port infrastructure in Odesa, southern Ukraine, late on Friday, Ukraine's Emergency Service said on Saturday morning.
Some of the wounded were on a bus at the epicentre of the overnight strike, the service said in a Telegram post. Trucks caught fire in the parking lot, and cars were also damaged.
The port was struck with ballistic missiles, said Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa region.
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Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces hit a Russian warship and other facilities with drones, Ukraine's General Staff said in a statement on Saturday.
The nighttime attack on Friday hit the Russian warship “Okhotnik,” according to the statement posted to the Telegram messaging app.
The ship was patrolling in the Caspian Sea near an oil and gas production platform. The extent of the damage is still being clarified, the statement added.
A drilling platform at the Filanovsky oil and gas field in the Caspian Sea was also hit. The facility is operated by Russian oil giant Lukoil. Ukrainian drones also struck a radar system in the Krasnosilske area of Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
