Thirty-eight people, mostly psychiatric patients, were killed in a fire that raged on Friday at a psychiatric hospital in the Moscow region, trapping the inmates inside behind barred windows.
The deadly blaze raised new questions about security standards at Russia’s medical institutions, in particular psychiatric hospitals, after a string of fires in the last years.
The fire broke out on the roof and spread rapidly throughout the hospital in the small town of Ramensky around 40 kilometres outside Moscow, the health ministry said.
“According to preliminary reports, 38 people were killed, including two medical staff,” said ministry spokesman Oleg Salagai, cited by the RIA Novosti news agency.
The emergency situations ministry said in a statement that 41 people were in the building at the time. It listed those missing as two female members of staff and 36 patients.
“Twelve bodies have been found” so far, it said as firefighters searched through the rubble after more than 100 battled to extinguish the fire.