As much as I like to bitch about Syracuse and how sometimes they do stupid things, I am rather greatful and a tad sad when I read stories like the following.
MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- A fire broke out at a university dormitory in Moscow early Monday, killing 18 foreign students and injuring 80 others, the Interfax news agency reported.
The dead and injured included citizens of China, Bangladesh, Vietnam and several African countries, Interfax said, citing a foreign students' union. Some of the students were hurt after they jumped from the five-story building.
The blaze engulfed the second, third and fourth floors of a dormitory belonging to the Patrice Lumumba Friendship of Peoples University, where many foreigners study, a duty officer at the Moscow fire department said.
She could not confirm the number or nationality of the victims reported by Interfax.
The news agency reported that firefighters used ladders to evacuate students, but that some residents broke limbs or suffered head and neck injuries when they jumped from windows. Others suffered from smoke inhalation, it said.
It said the fire was extinguished before dawn, about three hours after the alarm was sounded.
The university, named for a Congolese revolutionary, was founded by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1960. It was once a showcase where students from Third World nations received subsidized educations with a strict Marxist curriculum.
The university declined as the Soviet Union collapsed, and its buildings have become run-down.
Posted by henry at November 24, 2003 12:21 AM