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Director Of Children's Camp In Russia's Far East Arrested Over Deadly Fire


The camp's director Maksim Kuznetsov will be held in pretrial detention for the next two months. (file photo)
The camp's director Maksim Kuznetsov will be held in pretrial detention for the next two months. (file photo)

The director of a children's camp in Russia's Far East has been arrested after a tent fire claimed the lives of four children.

The Solnechny district court in the Khabarovsk Krai region said on July 25 that Maksim Kuznetsov will be held in pretrial detention until September 22 on charges of manslaughter and failing to meet safety requirements while providing services.

The July 23 fire destroyed 20 tents and partially damaged six more tents in the Kholdomi camp, killing an 11-year-old girl on site, while three more children died later from burns suffered in the blaze.

In total there were 189 children between the ages of 7 and 15 at the camp when the fire broke out.

The court said the pretrial arrests of Vitaly Burlakov, the director of a company that owned the tent camp, and Eduard Novgorodtsev, an employee of the Emergency Ministry, are pending.

Kuznetsov faces the same charges as Burlakov, while Novgorodtsev, who led the Emergency Ministry's branch in the Solnechny district, faces negligence charges.

Based on reporting by RIA Novosti and Interfax

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