Investigators said at least 22 people died in a fire at a retirement home in Kemerovo, Siberia, in east-central Russia during the night from Friday to Saturday.
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“According to the latest data, the bodies of two other people were found during the inspection of the premises. The number of fatalities has thus risen to 22,” complained the Russian investigative committee, which is responsible for the most important investigations in the country.
According to investigators, “six other people were injured, two of whom were taken to hospital with serious burns.”
The previous Russian rescue report published on Telegram reported 20 dead. “At 05:25 (02:25 GMT)” the relief efforts were “finished”, it said on Telegram.
In video released by the emergency services, we could see charred tarps and several fire engines stationed near the small, derelict facility. The inside of the building went up in smoke.
According to the Tass news agency, the fire spread to 180 square meters in a two-story wooden building overnight.
This private retirement home was “illegal” within law enforcement, according to a source cited by Tass.
Kemerovo already mourned in 2018
The Russian Investigative Committee earlier on Saturday announced the opening of an investigation specifically into “negligence that resulted in the deaths of two or more people.”
“A 31-year-old man” is accused by investigators of “renting a private house as a temporary residence for” elderly people, the investigating committee said in a separate statement.
Investigators released a short video later this morning showing a man with a blurred face being questioned.
The suspected cause of the fire was “a defective stove,” according to investigators.
“The day before the incident, the tenants informed (the owner) that the boiler was broken, but he took no steps to fix the equipment,” they denounced.
“The inspection of the premises continues, the objects necessary for the continuation of the investigation are confiscated. Witnesses are being questioned,” read their press release.
According to the emergency services, the company was “identified” by the authorities “at the end of 2021” and should be checked unannounced in 2023.
“On December 7, the inspector from the National Fire Surveillance Service arrived at the facility for an inspection visit. The management of the home had denied him access to the premises,” denounced the relief again.
Regional governor Sergei Tsivilev ordered him by telegram that “all retirement homes, mainly private ones, will be checked”.
The city of Kemerovo was hit by a shopping center fire in March 2018 that killed 60 people, including around 40 children and teenagers, a tragedy that had rocked Russia.
Fire safety regulations are not always followed in Russia, partly due to corruption, with many real estate developers obtaining building permits in exchange for bribes.
In early November, a fire in a bar in Kostroma, 300 kilometers northeast of Moscow, killed 13 people.
In 2009, a major fire at a nightclub in Perm, a city in the Urals of eastern Russia, killed 156 people.