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MOSCOW - A fire in a Russian old people's home on Tuesday killed 62 patients and staff, emergency services said, prompting new concerns about safety in run-down state institutions.
Firefighters took almost an hour to reach the scene, by which time the building was engulfed by flames, and staff trying to evacuate patients could not find the key to open the fire exit, the Emergencies Ministry said.
The fire broke out just after 1am (1000 NZT) when most of the residents in the building, in the Kuban region of southern Russia, were likely to have been asleep.
An Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman earlier said 63 people had died but this was revised after one person was found alive.
"Our new information is that 62 people died, including one nurse," Tatiana Kobzarenko, a local ministry spokeswoman, told Reuters by telephone.
A local administration official told Rossiya television station 30 people were in hospital being treated for their injuries, one of whom was in intensive care. Officials declared Wednesday a day of mourning in the region.
The fire broke out hours after a gas explosion at a coal mine in Siberia killed at least 106 people.
Nearly 100 residents and staff were in the old people's home at the time of the fire and about half of the patients were unable to move about unaided. Russian media said staff had to carry them out of the building to escape the fire.
The fire revived long-standing concerns about safety at state-run healthcare institutions. Despite government promises of a big cash injection, many institutions are in a state of disrepair and fire regulations are routinely ignored.
A fire last year at a Moscow drug and alcohol treatment centre killed 45 female patients. Many of the bodies were found at the locked emergency exit.
Footage from the old people's home shown on Rossiya television showed a blackened net curtain hanging by one corner in a second-storey window and a chamber pot lying on the floor among charred rubble.
"Our preliminary information is that the fire could have been caused by carelessness, a short circuit or arson. Specialists will be working to establish the actual cause," Sergei Kudinov, a local Emergencies Ministry official said in televised remarks.
The old people's home was in a remote settlement 50km from the nearest fire station, which caused the delay in reaching the blaze.
Another Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman, Natalia Lukash, said staff at the home did not raise the alarm immediately.
"Apart from that, the medical staff were not at their posts and they could not find the key to open the emergency exit," Itar-Tass news agency quoted her as saying.
- REUTERS
