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2 dead after raging fire at Russia hotel

By Ed Adamczyk

Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Witnesses said they were part of a terrorizing emergency at a 10-story Russian hotel this week, when a raging fire broke out and sent guests running for their lives.

Officials said the fire erupted at the hotel in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on Wednesday -- starting on an upper floor.

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Two people died and several were hurt. The blaze blackened nearly the entire exterior of the hotel.

Witnesses said they saw at least five children jumping out of second-floor windows into the arms of rescuers. More than 400 people -- 61 of them children -- safely evacuated the Torn House hotel.

Fifty firefighters and 19 engines were sent to fight the flames. The blaze destroyed four cars that were parked near the building.

A government official said the two dead, a man and a woman, were both hotel employees.

Another official said the cladding on the building was made of "very flammable material containing toxic elements."

Wednesday's was the second fire in Rostov-on-Don, located on the Black Sea in southern Russia, in as many months. One person died last month when a fire destroyed more than 100 residential buildings.

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