Tragedy strikes in Kemerovo, Siberia. 20 people die in a fire at what appears to be an illegal old people's home. The city has already gained notoriety due to a fire disaster.
At least 22 people died in a fire in a private retirement home in Russia. Six other people were injured in the fire in the Siberian city of Kemerovo last night, the investigative committee responsible for serious crimes said. Two of them were taken to hospital with severe burns. The presumed cause of the fire was a "defective oven".
Rescue workers had initially given the number of victims as 20. It later rose again. The Russian news agency Tass, citing law enforcement officials, reported that the facility was "illegal". The investigative committee launched investigations into suspected negligent homicide.
According to the committee, a 31-year-old had "rented the private home as a temporary residence" to elderly people. The day before the accident, the tenants informed him about the defective stove, "but he did nothing to fix it," the statement said.
The committee released a short video from the scene of the fire showing the extent of the destruction. The interior of the old people's home apparently fell victim to the fire. According to the Tass news agency, the flames had spread to 180 square meters in the two-story wooden building. The governor of the region, Sergey Tsivilev, ordered all old people's homes to be inspected.
In March 2018, a fire in a shopping center in Kemerovo killed 60 people, including around 40 children and young people. The tragedy caused outrage across the country.
