Hospital fire in Russian Federation kills 21 people, several injured

When the fire broke out late Saturday night, over 70 people were inside the hospital in the Russian southwestern Voronezh region. There had been a fire safety drill at the facility just last month.“The evacuation wasnt easy because nearly 30 patients were bedridden and some had been given strong medication before going to bed, ” a rescue worker told state news agency TASS.

The fire gutted the brick-and-timber hospital building, with footage showing firefighters combing through the smoking ruins in light snow.

Nina Bondarenko, senior doctor at local hospital: “All are suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, one person with third degree burns from the high temperature”.

“However, judging by the preservation of such conditions and the repetition of these tragedies, the proper conclusions from this analysis of the causes either are not made or are made in favor of half measures or the dispersion of budget funds, which does not solve the problem”, he said.

Firefighters inspect debris after a blaze destroyed a center for the mentally ill in Alferovka, Russia. A further 20 people were injured.

Police investigators said the bodies of 23 people had been recovered after the fire had been put out.

A fire at a psychiatric hospital in northwest Russian Federation in September 2013 left 37 people dead, while another blaze in April 2013 killed 38.

In 2006, a fire at a Moscow drug rehabilitation clinic killed 45 women.