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Pocono News Section
Students Escape Burning Apartment Building
Students Escape Burning Apartment Building - Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 6:35PM EST
Reported by: Eric Deabill
Thursday, Feb 4, 2010 @ 06:35pm EST
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY - Ten college students were forced from their apartment building after a fire in Scranton Thursday afternoon. It started in the 800-block of Jefferson Avenue just before 2:00 PM.
The heaviest damage was done to the back of the building. Firefighters are still looking for the cause of the blaze. All of the victims were international college students. A majority of them were in classes at the time.
"It was break time in between and I got the call from my friend who was at home and he told us the house is on fire and we just ran," fire victim Jimmy Asari said.
Two people were inside the building at the time. They got out safely. Rajan Shih escaped wearing only a T-shirt and boxers.
"Flames were coming outside from the bathroom side and the kitchen side," Shih said. "It was all burning. I was not able to go inside."
Eight of the international students go to Marywood University. The other two go to the University of Scranton. Both colleges are now helping house the students. As for the students, they're mainly concerned about what they lost.
"It's really bad for us because being an international student, we have lots of regional documents inside, like passports," fire victim Jigar Patel said.
The students don't know how they'll pick up the pieces but they're just happy everyone is safe.
"All my life, all 25 years of my life, the documents, my passport, everything is there and I can see, it's all gone I think," Asari said. | | |
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