20 dead & 6 injured after massive fire breaks out in illegal care home in Russia's Siberia

At least 20 people lost their lives after a fire broke out in a private elderly home in Russia on Saturday. The two-story wooden building in which the fire broke out was located in the Siberian city of Kemerovo. According to the BBC, the Russian official informed that 6 people were left injured following the devastating incident. As per the initial reports, the Russian authorities stated that the fire may have been caused by a “faulty heating boiler”. 

The officials also told the Russian news agency TASS that the private home for the elderly was operating illegally in the region. Speaking on the incident, the Russian emergency services stated, “At the site of the fire, rescuers continue to work on the rubble in conditions of low air temperature. According to the latest data, 20 people died." According to TASS, a criminal inquiry has been launched. The officials will now be investigating the case under the article on “causing death by negligence".

Authorities will be on a look out for similar illegal facilities

As soon as the fire broke out, dozens of firefighters were deployed and the raging flames were extinguished early on Saturday. According to TASS, the governor of the region, Kuzbass Sergey Tsivilev stated that all institutions of this type, which are primarily private and illegal in nature, will be investigated to avoid such accidents. He said, “We will inspect all institutions of this type, primarily private ones. The inspections will be completed within a week”. The fire that left the private nursing home into rubble was assigned an “increased rank of difficulty”. The illegal buildings in Russia become even more vulnerable since they are not subjected to fire safety inspections. According to BBC, in 2018 a similar incident took place in a leisure center in Kemerovo, where at least 60 people, including 30 children lost their lives.