



Dozens die in Russian hospital fire


MOSCOW: Fire has raged through a psychiatric hospital near Moscow, killing at least 36 people, reports say.

The fire broke out in the early hours of Friday in the one-storey hospital in the town of Ramensky, about 50 kilometres from the capital.

‘‘According to specified information, at the moment when the fire broke out there were 38 people in the hospital located in the Ramensky settlement,’’ the Itar-Tass news agency quoted police as saying. ‘‘Two managed to escape and the remaining 36 were killed.’’

The death toll could be up to 38, according to figures supplied by the ministry of emergency situations, which said there were 41 people inside, three of whom escaped. It is believed that two of the dead are nurses, while a third nurse escaped with two patients.

‘‘The fire started when they were asleep,’’ the police source told Itar-Tass. ‘‘Some of them tried to escape, but were poisoned by combustion products, and the building almost burnt down.’’

The fire broke out in part of the building where patients with severe conditions were being held, local officials were quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

Firefighters later extinguished the blaze and have so far found 12 bodies.

A local official said that all the windows had metal bars, and most of the victims were found in their bed, according to the Ria Novosti news agency.


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