Russian apartment block blaze kills 16

A fire ripped through a wooden apartment building in southern Russia early today, killing 16 people, emergency officials said.

The fire destroyed most of the three-story building before it could be put out, officials said. Seven other people were taken to the hospital.

Investigators said they suspected the blaze was caused by a “mishandling of fire” in a third-floor apartment, Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Alexei Titarenko said.

Nearly 100 people living in the building in Molodyozhny, a village in the Astrakhan region, were evacuated to a nearby school.

Deadly blazes at schools, hospitals and residential buildings in recent years have revealed official negligence and rampant violations of fire safety rules in Russia.