A fire killed at least 30 people, most or all of them elderly, at a nursing home in Russia this week. It is the third major nursing home fire in the country this year.
The fire broke out Sunday afternoon in a two-story home for the elderly and disabled in the Tula region, south of Moscow. More than 250 people escaped or were evacuated from the building. Fire inspectors reportedly had asked courts to order the facility closed earlier because of fire safety violations. The fire likely was caused by a short circuit or carelessness, Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov said in a media report.
Other devastating nursing home fires have occurred in the former Soviet Union during the last year. In March, a fire in a nursing home in southern Russia killed 62 people. In June, another fire at a nursing home in Siberia killed 10 people.
