54 Russians Die In Weekend Institution Blazes
By Dave
Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
December 11, 2006
MOSCOW,
RUSSIA--Nine patients at a Siberian psychiatric hospital perished in a fire
early Sunday -- one day after 45 people died from a fire at a Moscow drug
treatment facility.
A spokesperson for Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry told the
Associated Press that the staff at the two-story psych facility in the Siberian
town of Taiga tried for nearly an hour and a half to put out the fire on their
own before reporting it to authorities. Fifteen surviving patients were
hospitalized, some for burns and some for broken bones from jumping out of
second-story windows. About 200 other residents were evacuated into blizzard
conditions.
Authorities said later that the blaze might have been intentionally set.
The early Saturday fire that swept through the drug treatment center in
Moscow was most likely arson caused, said Russia's chief fire inspector Yuri
Nenashev. The 43 female patients and two staff who died at the facility were
reportedly trapped inside one unit, unable to get through the iron bars or
locked doors designed to keep the recovering addicts from escaping. About 300
other patients and staff escaped unharmed.
"Thick iron bars on the windows, iron doors and cruel treatment are
intended to subdue hospital patients," Kamilzhan Kalandarov, a member of a
government-appointed rights group told the RIA Novosti news agency. "The death
toll in a Moscow fire wouldn't have been that high without barred windows."
The fires are one example of Russia's disregard for people it
institutionalizes, some experts noted.
Last winter, fire officials called for the Moscow drug treatment
facility to be closed at least temporarily after they discovered safety
problems.
Related:
"Eight dead in Russia clinic" (BBC News)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6165889.stm
"45
women die as fire sweeps Moscow clinic" (Associated Press via Toronto
Star)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/06/red/1211a.htm
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