NIZHNY NOVGOROD, October 7. /TASS/. A family of five, including three children, died as a fire erupted in a flat in Arzamas in southwestern Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Region, the local Interior Ministry department reported.

"Approximately at 2:25 a.m. Moscow time, a fire occurred in a flat in Arzamas <…>. According to preliminary data, five people were killed, namely a man, a woman born in 1996 and children born in 2011, 2020 and 2022," the law enforcement agency said in a statement.

Emergencies services and Interior Ministry investigators are working at the scene. The cause of the fire which was stamped out by 4:30 a.m. is currently being established. The effort involved 41 firefighters and 15 firefighting vehicles.