Police in Kilkenny, Ireland, are seeking the public’s assistance in locating a 36-year-old and apparently Latvian man who has been reported missing since Feb. 20.

Arturs Vagalis was last seen at about 4 p.m. Feb. 20 on Walkin Street in Kilkenny, which is about 115 kilometers southwest of Dublin, the Garda Press Office said.

Vagalis is described as between 173 cm and 183 cm in height, of slim build and with dark, short hair. When he was last seen, police said, he was wearing white Adidas running shoes, light blue jeans and a brown, waist-length leather jacket.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Vagalis is asked to telephone the Kilkenny police station, +353 056 7775000.

Twenty-six people are believed to have died early Feb. 23 as fire swept through a retirement home in the small town of Alsunga in western Latvia, authorities and media reported. Faulty wiring and incorrect use of electrical heating devices are being blamed for the tragedy.

Firefighters saved 66 people from the blaze, the news agency LETA reported. Firefighters were still at the scene by midday Feb. 23 and still had not located all the bodies, Latvian State Radio reported.

The fire was reported at about 1:30 a.m. at the Specialized State Social Care Home “Reģi.” The home is on territory once belonging to the local manor and its main building was constructed in 1890. The facility had room for 84 mentally ill elderly residents, according to an overview of its 2005 activities.

President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga expressed her condolences to the families of the victims.

“This has been a night of misfortune and tragedy in Latvia,” she wrote in a letter to the families. The families are not alone in their pain, Vīķe-Freiberga added, calling the event a national tragedy.

The loss of life is the greatest in a fire in recent Latvian history, news media reported, citing the State Fire and Rescue Service.

Alsunga is about 20 kilometers west of Kuldīga and about halfway between the port cities of Ventspils and Liepāja.

Gunārs Meierovics, son of Latvia’s first foreign minister, Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics, and a tireless worker for Latvian independence during his years of exile, died Feb. 11 in Rīga, according to the World Federation of Free Latvians (Pasaules brīvo latviešu apvienība, or PBLA). He was 86.

Born May 12, 1920, in Rīga, Meierovics studied at the University of Latvia and the Baltic University in Germany, where he was a war refugee. He emigrated to the United States, where he worked in the U.S. Department of Defense.

He spent many years involved with the American Latvian Association and the PBLA. From 1990-1993, Meierovics was chairman of the PBLA. He also led the Latvian Freedom Fund (Latvijas brīvības fonds).

He was elected to Latvia’s first postwar parliament, the 5th Saeima, as a member of the Latvijas ceļš (Latvia’s Way) party. Meierovics was then named state minister of Baltic and Nordic Affairs in the government led by Prime Minister Valdis Birkavs. He failed in 1993 in his bid to be elected president of Latvia.

From 1997-1999, Meierovics was president of Eiropas kustība Latvijā (European Movement – Latvia), a nonprofit organization that works to educate Latvian residents about the European Union. He remained its honorary president up until his death.

In 2001, Meierovics received the PBLA’s top honor.

Meierovics died after a prolonged illness, according to Latvian media reports.

Foreign Minister Artis Pabriks is among those who have expressed condolences to Meierovics’ family, including his widow, Ingrīda.

“Latvia,” said President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, “bids farewell to a son who truly loved his fatherland, who lived a long and rich life, who traveled the difficult road of the refugee, but always with thoughts and concerns for his country and his people, with love for his Latvia and the Baltics.”

Funeral details have yet to be announced, but services are to be in the Dome Cathedral and Meierovics is to buried in the family plot in Meža kapi.