28 Deaf Kids Killed in Russian School Fire

A fire raged through a boarding school for the deaf in southern Russia early today, killing 28 children and injuring about 100 others, Russian emergency officials said.

Rescue efforts at the school in Makhachkala were slowed because the children could not hear the alarms and each had to be awakened individually.

Firefighters saved 138 people from the blaze, said Marina Ryklina, spokeswoman for the Emergency Situations Ministry. Officials said the fire may have been caused by a short circuit.

Four of the estimated 100 children who suffered from burns or smoke inhalation had serious injuries, Interfax news agency and NTV reported. High winds interfered with efforts to extinguish the fire, Channel One television said.

The blaze came just days after a deadly school fire in northern Siberia. A two-story, old wooden school in a village in the republic of Yakutia was destroyed in the fire Monday, which killed 22 students between the ages of 11 and 18 and injured at least 10 others.

Fifty people a day -- 18,000 a year -- die in fires in Russia. Most are caused by people smoking while drinking or by general carelessness. There are also inadequate fireproofing and alarm systems in many buildings.