KABUL: (MEP) A fire broke out at a neurological hospital in Russia’s central Voronezh region killing at least 22 people and about two dozen others injured, local authorities reported Sunday.
“Twenty victims’ bodies have been discovered at the site of the fire” on Sunday, an Emergencies Ministry source told Russia’s Ria Novosti news agency, adding that two of the injured succumbed to their injuries en route to hospital.
Some 70 patients were inside the building, along with at least four medical personnel, when the fire started. At least 29 of the patients were reportedly bedridden or with limited mobility.
Meanwhile, two people have remained unaccounted for as authorities continue searching the rubble of the wooden structure that was destroyed by the blaze, the unnamed source added.
An investigation is underway into the incident, but officials say a wiring malfunction in the hospital’s electrical system might be the cause of the incident.
One person is still missing, according to the Emergencies Ministry. The authorities continue working at the scene. The roof of the single-story unit collapsed when the fire consumed all 600 square meters of the building.
Such incidents are not rare in Russia, where a number of deadly fires at medical facilities have claimed the lives of many people over the last decade.
The neurological hospital is located in the village of Alferovka, which is home to just over 700 people consisting of two structures and is situated some 230 km away from Voronezh, a city of just under a million inhabitants.
