Thirty-eight feared dead in Russian psychiatric hospital fire

[Joe Higashi]

Thirty-eight feared dead in Russian psychiatric hospital fire

A view of a fire at a psychiatric hospital north of Moscow in this April 26, 2013 still image taken from video footage provided by the Russian Emergencies Ministry. The fire raged through the psychiatric hospital on Friday and 38 people were feared dead, Russian officials and media reports said. Credit: Reuters/Russian Emergencies Ministry/Handout

MOSCOW | Fri Apr 26, 2013 1:33am EDT

(Reuters) - A fire raged through a psychiatric hospital north of Moscow on Friday and 38 people were feared dead, Russian officials and media reports said.

There were believed to have been 41 people in the building when the fire broke out - 38 patients and three staff members - and three escaped, the Emergency Situations Ministry said. A ministry official said a nurse led two patients to safety.

The ministry said emergency workers had found 12 bodies so far and that the fire, which broke out in the middle of the night, had been extinguished.

A Health Ministry official confirmed that 38 people were feared dead, state-run RIA news agency reported.

There were bars on the windows of the single-storey building in Ramensky, 120 km (70 miles) north of Moscow, and some patients apparently died while trying frantically to make it to the main entrance to escape. Many others died in their beds, Itar-Tass cited an unnamed source as saying.

"After the fire alarm went off, a nurse ... saw fire at the end of a corridor. She tried to put it out but could not and led two patients out," RIA quoted emergency official Yuri Deshyovykh as saying.

Fires at state institutions in Russia such as hospitals, schools, drug treatment centres and homes for the elderly or handicapped have caused numerous casualties in recent years and raised questions about safety measures, conditions and escape routes.

More than 12,000 people died in fires in 2011 and more than 7,700 in the first nine months of 2012 in Russia, where the per capita death rate from fires is much higher than in Western nations including the United States.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said the fire started on or under the roof of the hospital at about 2:20 a.m. (2220 GMT on Thursday), but did not give its cause.

(Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Christopher Wilson)

 

[Joe Higashi]

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[|ASIA|]

Thirty eight mental patients burn to death in their beds as giant blaze rips through Moscow psychiatric hospital

• 38 patients and three staff were in the building when fire started
  
• One nurse managed to escape the blaze, bringing two patients out
  
• Fire started in a wing housing special treatment patients
• Workers searching the hospital had found 12 bodies so far
• Emergency services posted list of patients, ranging in age from 20 to 76

By Leon Watson
PUBLISHED: 04:46 GMT, 26 April 2013 | UPDATED: 07:11 GMT, 26 April 2013

A fire raged through a psychiatric hospital north of Moscow today and 38 people were feared dead, Russian emergency officials said.
There were believed to have been 41 people in the building when the fire broke out - 38 patients and three staff members, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

One nurse managed to escape the blaze, bringing two patients out of the building to safety where they were found by firefighters.

Firefighters tackling the fire at a psychiatric hospital in Dmitrovsky district, Moscow

Russia's Ministry for Emergency Situations workers and fire fighters work at a site of the fire

Police said the fire, which broke out at about 2am local time in the one-story hospital was caused by a short circuit

It said emergency workers searching the hospital had found 12 bodies so far and that the fire, which started in a wing housing special treatment patients, had been extinguished.
'The fire started when they were asleep,' a law enforcement source said, adding that people had little chance to escape.

'Some of them tried to escape but were poisoned by the products of combustion,' he said, using a technical term for smoke. The fire, meanwhile, has now been fully extinguished but the building 'burned down almost completely. Doctor-in-chief of the facility, Murat Shahov, told lifenews: 'Some windows had bars, some did not.' He said that only two patients in the facility could not walk, the rest suffered severe psychological illnesses.

Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said at least 38 people have been killed after a fire erupted in a psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of Moscow

The fire started around 2.30am Moscow Time (10.30 GMT) in Ramenskoe. By the time fire rescue arrived, the entire one-story building was engulfed in flames

The fire started in a wing housing special treatment patients. One nurse managed to escape the blaze, bringing two patients out of the building to safety where they were found by firefighters

'There were patients with acute psychosis, alcoholics and one drug addict. We also had patients with schizophrenia.'

RUSSIA'S TRAGIC HISTORY OF MEDICAL FACILITY FIRES

Tragic blazes in medical facilities are common in Russia with at least 18 cases registered in the past seven years.
One of the most notable was in 2009 in the Russian Republic of Komi, where a blaze in an old people’s home in the region took the lives of 23 people. Only three were saved in the incident.

Two years earlier, a fire in the city of Tula, again in a home for elderly care, resulted in 32 victims. Luckily 247 patients, including medical staff were saved.

That same year, in 2007, another inferno in a care home claimed the lives 61 of victims. Only 35 people were saved.

A Health Ministry official said 38 people were feared dead, state-run RIA news agency reported. The emergency services also posted a list of the patients indicating they ranged in age from 20 to 76.

There were bars on the windows of the single-storey building in Ramensky, 70 miles north of Moscow, and some patients apparently died while trying frantically to make it to the main entrance to escape, but many others died in their beds, Itar-Tass cited an unnamed source as saying.

Fires at state institutions in Russia such as hospitals, drug treatment centres and homes for the elderly or handicapped have caused numerous casualties in recent years and raised questions about safety measures and conditions.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said the fire started on or under the roof of the hospital at about 2.20am (2220 GMT on Thursday), but did not give its cause.
However, RIA Novosti reported was caused by a short circuit.

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