Fire in Moscow hospital kills 45, arson suspected

MOSCOW, Saturday (AFP) -A fire believed to have been caused by arson swept throught a Moscow drug clinic early today, killing 45 people, many of them trapped by metal bars on the windows, officials said.

All the victims were women and included two of the hospital's staff, as the blaze erupted in the women's ward of the clinic, the emergency ministry and fire service officials said.

“All 45 women died before firefighters arrived,” Deputy Emergency Minister Alexander Chupriyan told reporters at the scene, adding that 10 more people were injured.

Moscow's chief fire inspector Viktor Klimkin, quoted by ITAR-TASS, said:

“The injured are in serious condition, their lives depend on the medical staff's dedication and work.”The blaze broke out on the second floor of the eight-storey building of Moscow's 17th city drug hospital at 1:40 am Moscow time (2240 GMT Friday).

“The fire started in the cafeteria of the old building. By the time firefighters came, thick smoke was spreading,” Klimkin said.

A total of 177 patients and 15 personnel were in the building at the time of the blaze, he said. More than 20 fire engines could be seen at the scene of the fire in southern Moscow.

“Everyone who died as a result of this fire, died before the first fire engines came, and those were at the site four minutes after the call,”Chupriyan said.

“If the personnel acted more adequately, such a casualty toll could have been avoided,” Chupriyan said.

Fire crews said many could not escape because of metal bars on the windows, although hospital staff had struggled to open them. They said one emergency exit was boarded up and the main exit was swathed in smoke.

Many of the victims succumbed to particularly noxious fumes from a plastic coating that covered the walls of the ward, they said.

Some survivors smashed windows on upper floors of the building and jumped, witnesses interviewed on Russian television said.
Klimkin said inspectors had earlier appealed to a court for closure of the building because of violations of fire safety rules and ordered checks in all Moscow drug clinics.

Prosecutors have opened a criminal inquiry for violation of fire safety at the clinic, where drug addicts and alcoholics receive treatment, Moscow's prosecutor Yury Semin said in comments broadcast on state television. The fire, one of the most serious in Russia in recent years, could prompt a wider review of fire safety across the country, television news reports said. In October, the emergency ministry listed 77 buildings in Russia where serious violations of fire safety laws have been found, including hospitals, theatres and hostels. Investigators were working at the site, with the emergency ministry's fire control department chief Yury Nenashev suggesting that arson was the likeliest cause for the blaze.

Nenashev said he was “90 percent” sure it was arson, ITAR-TASS reported.

“The fire broke out in a closed area of three square meters. No technical means such as heaters, wires or such were found in that area, there was only a wooden shelf, which was the fire's centre, and that indicates arson,” Nenashev said.