The deputy of the Odessa City Council Alexander Ivanitsky was the first to tell about the 13-year-old boy, who during the fire in the Odessa camp “Victoria” saved 15 children. The boy’s name is Maxim Tikhonchuk.
“He carried the children out of five rooms. That’s 15 children’s lives! And on Monday, I just went to school with burnt hands… ”, Alexander Ivanitsky wrote on Facebook.
“Despite what he has experienced, Maxim has really been in class for the second day,” teacher of Maxim Tikhonchuk says. – Maxim is very modest, does not like to talk about himself. This boy is a real hero. When the fire broke out in the camp, Maxim was in another building. But when he saw that the neighboring building was on fire, he reacted instantly – he immediately ran to this building to take the children out. According to Maxim, the fire happened very quickly. Maxim knocked out windows, doors – and took the children out. He saved a lot of people. He could not get only to the room where the three girls died. Nothing could be done there – the door had melted and would not open again. Maxim is very worried about this. He even blames himself for the fact that these children died… I think that not every adult could do what this child did.”
The fire on the territory of the children’s health complex “Victoria” began late in the evening on September 15, 2017.
The building in which the fire occurred burned to the ground. During the fire, three children died, two more were hospitalized.
Eyewitnesses reported that some children jumped out of the windows of the building during the fire.
