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(Image source: RIA Novosti)
BY KERRY LEARY
At least 38 people are dead after a fire at a psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of
Moscow — with ages ranging from 20 to 72 years old.
A nurse and two patients are believed to be the only survivors. The hospital housed as
many as 41 people, including medical staff and patients with severe mental disorders.
RIA Novosti reports most of the patients in the facility died in their sleep from smoke
inhalation as they were likely sedated by prescribed medicine.
"Many died in their beds, because their psychiatric condition meant they'd been heavily sedated.
Those who could try to escape found many of the windows barred."
Emergency officials say the fire started in a wooden annex, then spread to the main building.
That wasn't the only problem. Firefighters took more than an hour to arrive
at the scene... as opposed to the standard 20 minutes ... because a river crossing was
closed due to flooding. The fire's cause is still under investigation,
but Russia has a bad fire safety record compared to developed countries.
The New York Times reports, "fires are a plague in Russia." The country has high rates of
alcoholism and smoking — as well as dilapidated firefighting equipment and "widespread violations
of safety codes." "In 2008, Russia's rate of death from fire
was more than 8 per 100,000, compared with about 1 per 100,000 in Greece, Denmark, the
United States or the United Kingdom..." Moscow declared April 27 as a day of mourning
for those killed in the fire.