Blaze kills 62 at Russian old people's home

At least 61 elderly residents and a nurse have died in a blaze which engulfed a Russian old people's home.

Thirty people were treated in hospital after firefighters took almost an hour to reach the home, located in a remote settlement in the southern Kuban region, and a key to a fire exit could not be found.

Almost 100 residents and staff were present at the time of the fire and about half were unable to move about unaided.

Footage aired on Russian TV showed a blackened net curtain hanging by one corner in a second-storey window and a chamber pot lying on the floor among charred rubble.

"Our preliminary information is that the fire could have been caused by carelessness, a short circuit or arson. Specialists will be working to establish the actual cause," local Emergencies Ministry official Sergei Kudinov said.

Another spokesperson said staff did not raise the alarm immediately and some of them were not at their posts when the fire began.

Despite government promises of funding, many Russian institutions are in a state of disrepair and fire regulations are routinely ignored.

Last year, a blaze at a Moscow drug and alcohol treatment centre killed 45 female patients. Many of the bodies were found at the locked emergency exit.

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