Russia’s Investigative Committee said it considers the incident a crime and pledged, “to look into every possible version of how the fire started and led to such tragic consequences”.
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In a strongly-worded statement, Vladimir Markin, spokesman of the Russian Investigative Committee, pointed to a string of previous mistakes.
MOSCOW Investigators say they will have to study more closely to figure out the cause of a major blaze that left at least 23 people dead at a southwestern Russian psychiatric clinic, local civil defense forces said Sunday.
The blaze broke out late Saturday in the southern Russian city of Voronezh and took a crew of more than 800 four hours to extinguish, the Interfax news agency reported. Four medical personnel working at the home… An investigation is underway, so far the cause of the fire is unknown.
It is believed the patients choked on noxious smoke.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered officials to provide support to the families of the victims, while Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov went to the scene to oversee the response to the tragedy.
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He also posted pictures of rooms with cracked linoleum, grubby walls and decrepit furniture. “I would make it mandatory for governors to tour such places”. 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.
