14 DAY TRIAL // A cigarette has prompted a tragedy at a hospital in Russia, resulting in several deaths at the Novgorod facility.
Russia Today reported 37 dead in a psychiatric unit fire, with most of the victims being patients. Witnesses describe that at least one nurse, 44-year-old Yulia Anufrieva, has perished in the blaze.
So far officials have only recovered 26 dead bodies which are burnt beyond recognition. A search operation is in place for the remaining patients who are unaccounted for.
“Witnesses of the incident are being found and questioned,” Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin says.
“According to refined data, there were about 60 people inside. More than 20 were evacuated by the facility’s administration,” Russia Emergency Ministry leader, Oleg Voronov, says in a press statement.
Preliminary reports point to a cigarette as being the cause of the fire, and doctors state that a patient has smoked in bed.
However, patients are not allowed to smoke indoors in the clinic. A similar fire caused by old and faulty wiring has killed 36 people in a Russian mental hospital just this April.
“Doctors saw one of the patients of ward number 2 on fire. He could have possibly caused the fire. [...] He could have been smoking in bed, and thus could have set the quilting cotton of his mattress ablaze,” Novgorod Governor Sergey Mitin states.
The hospital was burned to the ground, as it was constructed out of wood and had low fire resistance. Hospital officials were told to evacuate two months ago.
“Emercom supervisory department together with the Prosecutor’s office filed a lawsuit to initiate the building’s closure. The court ruled that the hospital administration was to do away with the violation [stop using the building] by August 1, 2014,” says Yury Deshevykh, head of the Emercom supervisory department.
Russia’s chief fire inspector informs that 300 agents are at the scene conducting searches and evacuations.