The Chinese government will do its best to help relatives of Chinese students in Russia who want to go to Moscow after a fire in a Moscow-based university, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday.  

The ministry's Department of Consular Affairs has received phone calls from many relatives for consultation on related issues since Monday, the official said.

According to him, the Russian Embassy in Beijing has promised to issue visas free of charge as soon as possible if they want to go to Russia, and when they arrive in Moscow the Russian side will provide them accommodation and the Chinese Embassy there will also help them.

A fire broke out at about 2:50 a.m. Moscow time (23:50 GMT Sunday) in a hostel of the Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University in southwest Moscow. Three Chinese students have died in the blaze.

(Xinhua News Agency November 26, 2003)