A resident of the Orsha district saved his neighbor from a fire, but died himself in the process

January 17, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA /. A resident of the Orsha district saved his neighbor from a fire, but died himself in the process, the training and propaganda center at the regional department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations told a BELTA correspondent. The tragedy occurred on the afternoon of January 16 in one of the two-story houses in the village of Yurtsevo. An employee of a local cafe, born in 1960, smelled smoke and went to the first-floor landing to look for the possible source of the fire. He discovered the source of the smoke in the neighboring apartment, entered the premises and led the owner of the apartment, born in 1952, out of the smoke-filled area. Then, in conditions of heavy smoke, the man returned to his apartment, where his acquaintance, born in 1964, remained. Presumably, he lost consciousness while trying to carry the woman out and died with her. Their bodies were discovered by the arriving rescuers. According to preliminary data, death resulted from carbon monoxide poisoning. The rescued neighbor was taken to the Orsha City Hospital and released home after examination. A violation of the rules for operating stoves and heat-generating units is being considered as a possible cause of the fire. Since the beginning of the year, a total of 82 fires have occurred in the Vitebsk region, killing 17 people. In the vast majority of cases, the causes of fires with fatalities were carelessness while smoking by the deceased, who were in a state of intoxication. -0-