Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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March 21, 2007

Russia Observes Day of Mourning After Deadly Disasters
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=16BC9DD:A6F02AD83191E16007BD40AB6E06B81A9574F7DCC14957C0 At least 177
people have been killed in the past few days in three separate
disasters - a mine explosion, a nursing home fire and a plane crash





Workers hold a stretcher at a nursing home after a night deadly fire
in the Azov Sea coast region village of Kamyshevatskaya, southern
Russia, 20 Mar 2007Russia is observing a national day of mourning in
memory of at least 177 people killed in the past few days in three
separate disasters - a mine explosion, a nursing home fire and a plane
crash. Lisa McAdams in Moscow reports.

Flags are flying at half-mast today across Russia, as the nation
struggles to come to terms with the large loss of life, which
investigators say could have been avoided, if proper safety
regulations had been addressed.

In Kemerovo, in Central Siberia, the search is still on for three coal
miners missing following Monday's methane gas explosion that killed
more than 100 people. It is Russia's worst mining disaster since the
collapse of the Soviet Union.

Russian Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu says the massive
search and rescue effort could take up to three more days to complete.

Families who lost loved ones in the mines are preparing for the first
funerals, Thursday. They have been promised roughly $25,000 each by
the Russian government.

Kemerovo's Regional Governor Aman Tuleyev says the lump sum payments
will be dispersed in the next nine days.

Russians are also pausing to remember 63 elderly patients of a nursing
home who died in a fire in Russia's Southern Krasnodar region. The
mostly bed-ridden patients were asleep when the fire broke out in the
early hours, Tuesday.

Days before that, a plane crash in Samara took six lives.


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