Fire killing 9 in Tver region retirement home caused by self-immolation

"A can with combustible fluid has been found in a room where the fire started. One of the room's dwellers might have committed self-immolation," the source said.

Earlier, a spokesman for the central regional emergencies centre said the fire might have been caused by a short circuit. "The fire broke out in one of the home's rooms and destroyed it completely," the spokesman said. "Investigators from the state fire inspection say the fire might have been caused by a short circuit."

According to the Russian Emergencies Ministry, the fire at the retirement home in the town of Vyshny Volochek killed nine people who got intoxicated with combustion gases. One more person was hospitalized in grave condition. The nine were in the room where the fire started.

According to fire fighters, the fire consequences might have been not so grave if fire fighters had been called earlier. First fire brigades arrived at the scene only three minutes after the fire alarm call and managed to put out the fire in a short time.

About 500 people were evacuated from the home.

Meanwhile, a chief physician of the Vyshny Volochek district hospital said, nine persons were injured in the fire. Three of them received burns and six were intoxicated with carbon monoxide. Two elderly women were hostitalized to the district hospital. "One of them was hospitalized with suffocation that aggravated her asthma condition, the other one - with burns," the doctor said.