RUSSIA: Fire at Moscow drug rehabilitation clinic kills 45 female patients and staff

A fire at a Moscow drug rehabilitation clinic killed 45 female patients and staff whose attempts to flee were hampered by metal grilles blocking escape routes. A senior firefighter said the fire, which broke out in the early hours of the morning, was likely caused by arson. The victims were mostly women under 35, addicts infected with HIV and many with psychological disorders. Two victims were clinic staff. All appear to have died of smoke asphyxiation before fire crews reached the building. "We will be investigating all possible causes of the fire, including the possibility that it was deliberately started. Someone could have started the blaze on purpose," said Yuri Syomin, Moscow chief prosecutor. Inside the building, poorly furnished wards and corridors were darkened by fire and flooded with water. "Now we can say for sure that the fire started in the canteen area; and we are 90 percent certain that it was arson. The main cause behind the number of casualities was that one of the main escape stairways was blocked by a metal grille, and the second escape stairway was covered by heavy smoke, so people could not escape, and they died. Four hospital staff members who were at the scene could not help the patients to escape, and were forced to flee the scene themselves," said Yuri Nenashev, head of the fire safety directorate at Russia's Emergencies Ministry. Crying relatives arrived at the brick building with white grilles on the windows as ambulances hurried to and fro in the yard. The glass of some windows had been smashed, but the grilles were intact. Moscow Emergencies Ministry spokesman Yevgeny Bobylov said the hospital personnel had called fire services 30 minutes too late, allowing dense smoke to spread and stifle patients. Officials said the alarm was raised at 0142 on Saturday morning (2242 Friday GMT). Fire crews arrived within 4 minutes and took only 20 minutes to extinguish the fire. The Emergencies Ministry said it applied to a court in March to close the hospital because of fire safety violations including grilles on windows and staircases. The court turned down the request. The Prosecutor's Office said it had started a criminal investigation into a case of breaking fire safety rules and intentional ruin of property. Several fatal fires have occurred at secure hospitals in Russia where drug addicts or mentally ill people are treated. They are often in old, neglected buildings. In December last year, seven people died when a fire broke out in the night at a hospital near Moscow treating people for nervous disorders. Nineteen people died in 1999 in a fire at a hospital for people with mental illnesses in the Leningrad region near Russia's second city of St Petersburg, the agency said.

ITN Source | December 9, 2006

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