14 missing in Ukraine fire

KIEV: Fourteen people remain missing from a fire that claimed a student’s life in Ukraine’s southern port city of Odessa, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday.

The fire broke out in a college building in central Odessa on Wednesday, killing a 16-year-old female student and injuring 27 others.

The blaze had been contained by Thursday morning, but dozens of firefighters were still combing through the partly destroyed walls of the six-storey building.

Zelensky wrote in a Facebook post: "We all hope that of the 14 missing people, as many as possible will be found safe and sound. But I do not want to deceive anyone -- there may be more victims." Seven firefighters were among the injured and five people were in a serious condition.