Mystery fire destroys homes and rips through eastern Russia

AT least one person was killed and hundreds of people were left homeless when a major fire swept through a village just east of Russia's Urals mountains. Video footage released on Wednesday (April 26) showed flames raging across the horizon, engulfing houses and trees, while smoke blocked out the sky in Sosva, about 870 miles east of Moscow. Videos showed dozens of traditional Russian log houses burning to the ground, and what appeared to be train wagons of lumber burning. According to officials and media reports, a medical penal facility burned down in Sosva. Inmates have been evacuated, regional telegram channels reported. Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service set up an investigative board to look into the circumstances of the incident.