RUSSIA: Fire In Home For Elderly Kills 23

The toll in an old age home fire in central Russian region of Tula Sunday has risen to 23 MOSCOW, Russia (Ris Novosti), November 5, 2007: The fire at a home for the elderly near Tula, 200 km south of Moscow, engulfed an area of 1,700 sq m and fire tenders fought for five hours to bring the flames under control. The occupants of the home and hundreds of people in the neighbourhood were evacuated. 'The casualty figure, according to latest reports, has reached 23 people,' ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov said and added that the bodies were being identified, and the cause of the blaze was under investigation. Prosecutors are investigating possible violations of fire safety rules and negligence in maintenance work at the retirement home. A local police said a short circuit could have caused the fire. In a similar incident in June, at least 10 people were killed and four sustained serious burns in a fire at a retirement home in West Siberia. Sixty-one people at an old age home died in a fire in the Krasnodar region in southern Russia in March. Last December, 46 patients at a Moscow drug treatment clinic died in a fire. At least nine students died and dozens were injured in a blaze at a Moscow dormitory last October. Copyright © 1999-2007 Mainstream Media EC