Fire kills three in Russian hospital-fire service

MOSCOW, May 4 (Reuters) A fire in a Russian psychiatric hospital killed three people today and injured around 16 others, the fire services said, the latest deadly accident in Russia's often under-funded institutions.

Fire escapes are frequently blocked or locked for security in Russia's many Soviet-era hospitals and healthcare institutions while evacuation drills are sometimes rusty.

In March this year, around 62 residents and staff died in a home for the elderly in southern Russia. A fire at a Moscow drug clinic last year killed 45 women patients and staff.

Today's fire in the southern Rostov region started in the early hours of the morning and raged for two hours, the fire service press centre said. There had been 43 people in the building at the time.

Reuters SLD VV1418