23 people lost their lives in the fire, 20 people were injured.
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At least 21 patients died on the weekend when a psychiatric clinic in the Russian province of Voronezh caught fire, according to emergency officials cited by the Tass news agency.
Russian news reports say all of those who died were patients.
“They simply did not wake up”, a correspondent reported.
Over 90 people were inside the psychiatric hospital when the fire broke out on Saturday night. Those who were evacuated were placed in a nearby home for elderly and disabled people. There were 74 people, including four medical staff members, in the building when the fire erupted.
Rescuers arrivibg at the scene managed to contain the fire, but the building was not saved. Hundreds of firefighters and emergency workers have brought the fire under control.
Russia’s Investigation Committee has launched a pre-investigation check into the tragedy.
Experts are looking into what triggered the blaze at the psychiatric ward in Alfyorovka, investigators said, adding searches were also being conducted as part of the probe at the regional department for social protection.
In 2013, a fire killed 37 people in a psychiatric hospital in a provincial village north of Moscow, the second deadly blaze at such a facility that year alone. ‘I would make it mandatory for governors to tour such places’.
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A fire swept through a Russian house for those who have mental illnesses, unable to walk or injuring another 23, a number of whom were on drugs and killing 23 patients, the emergency services said.
