A 31-year-old man is accused by investigators “of having rented a private house as a temporary residence for” elderly people.
SourceAFP
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UA fire broke out on the night of Friday December 23 to Saturday December 24 in a private retirement home in Kemerovo, Siberia, in central-eastern Russia. “According to the latest data, during the inspection of the site, the bodies of two other people were found. The death toll has thus risen to 22,” lamented the Russian Investigative Committee, responsible for the main investigations in the country. According to the investigators, “six other people were injured, two of whom were hospitalized in serious condition with burns”.
A previous Russian rescue report published on Telegram reported 20 dead. In a video they posted, you could see charred canvas and several fire engines positioned near the small, dilapidated establishment. According to the Tass news agency, the fire spread overnight over 180 square meters in a two-storey wooden building. The Investigation Committee also released a short video shot at the scene, showing the extent of the damage. The inside of the establishment seemed to have completely gone up in smoke.
For its part, the Russian Investigation Committee, responsible for the main investigations in the country, announced the opening of an investigation, in particular for “negligence having caused the death of two or more people”. “Forensic investigators and department management are working at the scene of the fire,” he said in a statement.
A defective stove at the origin of the fire?
“A 31-year-old man” is accused by investigators “of having rented a private house as a temporary residence for” elderly people, the Investigation Committee said in another press release. The presumed origin of the fire was “a faulty stove”, investigators said. “The day before the incident, the tenants informed (the owner) that the boiler was defective, but he took no steps to repair the equipment,” they denounced.
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“The inspection of the premises continues, the objects necessary for the continuation of the investigation are seized. Witnesses are questioned”, can we also read in their press release. According to the emergency services, the establishment had been “identified at the end of 2021” by the authorities and was to be the subject of an unannounced check in 2023.
The regional governor, Sergei Tsivilev, ordered, for his part, the “immediate” holding of meetings between the various mayors of the Kemerovo region and “their committees in charge of emergency situations”. He also demanded, according to the Tass news agency, that “all retirement homes, mainly private ones, be checked”.
The city of Kemerovo had already been bereaved in March 2018 by a fire in a shopping center which killed 60 people, including around 40 children and adolescents, a tragedy which had shaken Russia.