Fire in Russian Mental-Health Clinic Kills 23 Patients

“Thus, the death toll in the fire is 23, two of them died at hospital”, the source said.

The remaining 24 patients at the Novokhopersky Neuropsychiatric Home in Alferovka, a village in the Voronezh region about 560 kilometers south of Moscow, were safely evacuated to other facilities. Twenty-three patients died and a further 23 were hospitalised.

The fire started in a section of the home dedicated to patients who were unable to walk, emergency services official Igor Kobzev said on Russian state television.

It is believed the patients choked on noxious smoke.

The blaze broke out around 11 pm on Saturday and took four hours to extinguish, the Interfax news agency reported. After those fires, the government had promised to improve safety at institutions for psychiatric patients.

MOSCOW — Investigators say they will have to study more closely to figure out the cause of a major blaze that left at least 23 people dead at a southwestern Russian psychiatric clinic, local civil defense forces said Sunday.

In a strongly-worded statement, Vladimir Markin, spokesman of the Russian Investigative Committee, pointed to a string of previous mistakes.

Konstantin Rubakhin, whose father was born in Alfyorovka, said the hospital had been a awful place.