Forty-five people, mostly women, were killed on Saturday when a fire broke out at a drug rehabilitation centre in Moscow.
The blaze in the 17th Narcological Hospital in southwest Moscow at around 0230 IST filled a women's ward of the hospital with smoke, choking most of the patients to death.
The hospital staff failed to take appropriate steps to evacuate the patients, who were locked behind the bars in the wards, a rescue official said.
The hospital treats drug addicts and alcoholics. Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations and Disaster Management Alexander Chupriyan told reporters that the body count has reached 45 after the fire was doused at 0509 IST.
"The patients had tried to escape to safety, however, only one escape route was open. Many patients were suffocated due to toxic fumes caused by decorative plastic panels," Chupriyan said.
He accused the hospital staff of gross incompetence in failure to ensure evacuation of patients. Moscow prosecutor's office has launched a criminal case to probe the personal responsibility of the hospital staff, who failed to start evacuation of the patients after the fire alarm.
The fire is the worst among those that happened in hospitals in Russia in the past seven years.