
A fire has broken out at a private illegal nursing home in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, killing 22 people.
Confirming the blaze via Telegram, Russia’s investigative committee said on Saturday that it happened overnight “in a private property used as an illegal nursing home”.
The Committee added that “the death toll has risen to 22.”
An earlier statement said 20 people had died.
“Six more were injured, two of them were hospitalised and are in a serious condition with burns,” the Telegram statement said.
The fire spread over 180 square meters in a two-storey wooden building, the Russian state-run news agency TASS reported.
In a video released by the emergency services, a long row of emergency vehicles lined up outside the burning building, as firefighters tackled flames which sent plumes of smoke into the night sky.
Images released by emergency services showed the building later completely burned out.
“The preliminary cause of the fire was a violation of fire safety rules when operating a heating stove,” the Kuzbass regional administration said on its website.
Russia’s investigative committee, which investigates major crimes, said it opened an investigation into causing death by negligence.