Moscow drug clinic fire kills 45 women

MOSCOW, Dec 9 (Reuters) A fire at a Moscow drug rehabilitation clinic today killed 45 female patients and staff whose attempts to flee were hampered by metal grilles blocking escape routes, emergency services said.

The fire, which broke out in the early hours of the morning, was likely caused by arson, a senior firefighter said .

''The number of victims has reached 45,'' Deputy Emergencies Minister Alexander Chupriyan told reporters outside Drug Treatment Hospital No 17 in southwest Moscow.

''Judging by the position of the bodies, people tried to get out but there was only one fire exit available.'' Crying relatives of the dead arrived to the hospital as ambulances hurried to and from the yard of a two-storey building with white grilles on windows.

Some windows had their glass smashed as patients tried to break out of the building but grilles were intact.

All the victims were women. Most were patients undergoing treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. Two were clinic staff.

The Emergencies Ministry said it applied to a court earlier this year to close the hospital because of fire safety violations including metal grilles on windows and staircases, but that the court turned down the request.

Ten people were injured, some of them seriously, emergency services said. More than 100 people were evacuated.

The victims were in an all-female ward on the second floor of the five-storey brick building. They were killed by inhaling deadly fumes from a small fire which broke out in the canteen on the same floor, emergency services said.

''There is a 90 per cent probability that it was arson,'' said Yuri Nenashev, head of the Emergencies Ministry fire safety directorate.

Moscow's Prosecutor's office has started a criminal investigation into the case of breaking fire safety rules, Moscow Emergencies Ministry spokesman Yevgeny Bobylov said.

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