(Reuters) -13 folks have been killed when a fireplace tore by a crowded nightclub within the Russian metropolis of Kostroma within the early hours of Saturday, officers stated.
The blaze broke out at about 2:30 a.m. in Polygon – an leisure venue with a bar, restaurant and huge dance flooring – after a person shot a flare gun on the ceiling, the TASS information company stated.
“In a short time the room started to fill with acrid smoke and the evacuation exits have been tough to see. There was pushing and panic,” the company reported, citing an eyewitness in Kostroma, which lies some 300 km (190 miles) northeast of Moscow.
In video footage posted on social media, folks could be heard shouting whereas what seems to be a big cloud of thick smoke expands outwards from a fireplace on the ceiling.
Rescuers stated 250 folks have been evacuated from the constructing.
“The flames have been horrible, burning on a number of sides without delay,” stated one other witness.
Video shared by investigators confirmed firefighters spraying water on the smouldering, collapsed roof of the constructing. In response to rescuers, the hearth coated an space of three,500 sq. metres and took about 5 hours to place out.
A 23-year-old man has been detained in reference to the incident, investigators stated.
Prosecutors have additionally launched an investigation into the institution itself, after discovering that various the evacuation exits have been blocked.
In 2009, 156 folks have been killed after a fireplace broke out on the Lame Horse nightclub within the metropolis of Perm, sparking requires more durable hearth security legal guidelines in a rustic the place lethal blazes occur frequently.
Native officers have declared Monday a day of mourning.
(Reporting by Caleb DavisEditing by Kevin Liffey, Christina Fincher and Helen Popper)
