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• Polish hostel fire kills 21 homeless and poor  

A fire swept through a shelter for homeless and poor families in northwest Poland yesterday, killing 21 people and forcing parents to toss children from windows into the arms of rescuers below.

A resident of the shelter said the fire that destroyed the two-storey building in the town of Kamien Pomorski might have been caused by someone who fell asleep with a lit cigarette.

"Twenty-one people are dead," said Daniel Kowalinski, a spokesman for firefighters at the scene of the blaze.

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