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'Many dead' in Russia psychiatric hospital fire Blaze kills 38 at psychiatric hospital near Moscow
(about 4 hours later)
At least 38 people are feared dead after a fire swept through a psychiatric hospital in the Moscow region, officials say. A blaze has engulfed a wing of a psychiatric hospital in a village near Moscow, killing 38 people, with just three survivors, officials say.
The blaze started shortly after 02:00 local time (22:00 GMT Thursday) at the No 14 hospital in Ramenskiy village. Fire broke out in Hospital No 14 shortly after 02:00 (22:00 GMT Thursday), when most of the victims are believed to have been asleep.
Most of the victims are believed to be local patients. There are fears that the death toll could rise further. Investigators say an alarm went off but the duty nurse only managed to evacuate two patients because of heavy smoke.
The cause of the blaze is being investigated, with one report saying it was caused by a short circuit. Reports suggest a patient who ignored a smoking ban may have started the fire.
The fire broke out in part of the building where patients with severe conditions lived, local officials were quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. It quickly consumed the one-storey, brick-and-wood building.
"According to preliminary reports, 38 people were killed, including two medical staff," Health Ministry spokesman Oleg Salagai told Russia's Ria Novosti news agency. Firefighters dispatched to the scene took more than an hour to arrive instead of the standard 20 minutes because a river crossing had been closed due to flooding, Russian media report.
Firefighters later extinguished the blaze and have so far found 12 bodies. Several fires at state institutions across Russia in recent years resulted in heavy loss of life.
A local official was quoted as saying that all the windows had metal bars, and most of the victims were found in their beds. In 2009, 23 people died in a blaze at an old people's home in Komi while in 2007, 63 died at a home in Krasnodar. In 2006, a fire at a Moscow drug rehabilitation clinic killed 45 women.
A nurse managed to lead to safety two patients. Safety checks
It is believed that 41 people were in the hospital when the fire began. According to a list of victims being circulated online, the true number of people killed is 38, most of them patients but including two members of staff.
Believed to be local people, they range in age from 76 to 20.
A statement by Russia's Investigative Committee says that, according to preliminary information, the source of the fire was a sofa used in a common room.
A surviving patient told investigators that a drug addict had been admitted with withdrawal symptoms on Thursday, and had been smoking constantly despite warnings from staff.
The Investigative Committee added that it was examining other theories such as a short circuit or arson.
A fire safety inspection was carried out at the hospital last year and action taken to improve safety measures, the hospital's chief doctor, who was not named, told Russian media.
The doctor described the patients who died as a "very tough group of people, psychiatric patients with chronic illnesses and frequent attacks" who had suffered from alcohol and drug addiction.
Patients were under sedation and most of them did not wake up, emergencies official Yuri Deshevykh told Russia's RIA Novosti news agency.
Bars on windows may also have been a factor in the high death toll.
A police source quoted by Interfax news agency said that following the blaze, a hole 1.5m (yds) deep was found beneath the charred remains of the building.
One of the patients may have been digging an escape tunnel, the source added.