KIEV, May 3 (RIA Novosti) – During the fire at Odessa's Trade Unions House people died instantly, having been poisoned by an unidentified substance, the UNIAN news agency reported on Saturday.
“Many people died by jumping from the fourth and fifth floors, while others died of carbon monoxide or burned to death…I was at the accident scene and saw a great number of dead people. It was evident that they died instantly, very quickly,” the agency quoted Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Yarema as saying.
“This means that some substance burned which generated gas and this gas quickly affected people who lost consciousness and died on the spot,” Yarema told journalists at a briefing in Odessa.
He said the examination of bodies will be carried out to identify the gas.
Ukraine saw Friday the bloodiest violence since the February overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych, with dozens killed in clashes across the country.
The highest casualty toll was reported in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa where 46 people died and over 200 were injured. A two-day national morning has been announced in the country.
