Moscow, Russia …. [Valery Ivanov/Mark A. Kellner/ANN]
An early-morning fire Nov. 24 has claimed the life of a Peruvian Seventh-day Adventist student at Peoples Friendship University in Moscow. Giancarlo Paitamala Saenz, 20, died of head injuries sustained when he jumped from the fourth floor of the burning dormitory. At least 36 students were killed and 200 more injured in the blaze.
Another Adventist church member, 18-year-old Ivan Ostrovsky from Brazil, is recuperating in a Moscow hospital from his injuries. Ostrovsky, who arrived a month ago to study international law, jumped from the fifth floor of the burning dormitory, yet miraculously survived. He has spoken with his parents via mobile phone, and reportedly is suffering from a broken arm, broken ribs, and spinal injuries.
Patiamala “was a very good student who graduated at the top of his class at the Spanish Adventist School in Lima,” said Heriberto Muller, Adventist Development and Relief Agency director for the region, in a telephone interview. “He received a scholarship to study political science in Moscow.” He was the youngest of six children in the family, and his father is a leader in a local Adventist congregation.
Muller, who has been in touch with the family in Peru, said that local church leaders had only located both Paitamala and Ostrovsky on Nov. 19. The students attended the Moscow International Adventist Church on the following Sabbath, or Saturday, and had lunch with several church members that day.
Paitamala prayed at the close of the Sabbath, Muller said, “and asked for the courage and strength to be a good witness” at the Univeristy.
News reports indicate that an electrical problem may have been the cause of the fire, which broke out at 2:17 a.m. local time. The dormitory, which was used to house overseas students awaiting medical clearances, lacked an alarm system and there was no evacuation plan for its residents, many of whom didn’t speak Russian, said Vladimir Rodin, a deputy chief of Russia’s fire service, speaking on Russia’s “Channel one” television station.
Two leaders from the Adventist Church’s regional headquarters, treasurer Guillermo Biaggi and Global Mission director Wilmar Hirle, searched for Paitamala, who was initially believed missing after the blaze. The local ADRA office plans to help not only Adventists, but all those in need with clothes, food and other necessities.
Originally named Patrice Lumumba Friendship of Peoples University, the school is a Soviet-era institution designed to teach a strict Marxist curriculum to students. After the fall of the Soviet state in 1991, government funding dried up, although extremely low tuitions–reportedly $1,200 a year–continued to attract students from other countries.
