17 Die in Fire at Ukraine Home for Elderly

Emergency ministry employees search a site of a fire at Litchi, Kyiv, Ukraine.

Ukraine's state emergencies services says 17 people have died in a fire in a building temporarily housing elderly people.

Officials say the blaze broke out early Sunday in the two-story building in the village of Litochky, about 40 kilometers north of Kyiv.

The emergencies service said 35 people were in the residence when the fire started. It said 18 people were rescued from the fire, but five of them "have been hospitalized with burns of varying degrees of severity."

Prime Minister Volodymyr Grovsman said the fire was a "terrible tragedy" and has called for an immediate investigation.

Some material for this report came from AFP and Reuters.