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Minnesota

3 boys away when father

killed in St. Paul apartment fire

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Three young sons who lived with their father in a St. Paul apartment were spending the night elsewhere when a fire broke out and killed him.

Justin Slanina, 29, died last weekend while his boys, ages 6, 7 and 8, were staying with their mother.

The victim’s uncle, Bob Slanina and his fiancee, Michelle Berg, broke the news to the boys.

“We told them there was an accident at their house, that there was a fire and the paramedics did everything they could to try to save their daddy, and now he’s in heaven with great-grandma Ginny and grandma Wendy,” Berg said of Justin’s mother and grandmother. “They all just started to cry and cry. It was the most heartbreaking thing to watch.”

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports neighbors told firefighters when they arrived at the apartment early Saturday that the three boys could be in the apartment with their dad. Firefighters found Slanina in their initial search, but no one else in secondary searches.

“I’m very, very thankful that we’re not mourning the loss of all of them,” said Berg, who regarded Slanina as her nephew.

The cause of the fire is under investigation with initial indications that it was smoking related, according to fire officials.

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