A fire broke out overnight from Friday to Saturday in a bar in Kostoma, 300 km northeast of Moscow, killing at least 15 people. At first, the governor of the region, Sergei Sitnikov, had reported, on the social network Telegram, 13 dead and five other people injured but who did not need to be hospitalized. “Two additional bodies were discovered. This means the death toll is now 15,” Tass said citing emergency service sources.
The fire, which occurred in a dance bar and restaurant called “Poligon”, initially presented as a cafe, was extinguished in the early morning, said the governor. According to the emergency services, which were alerted around 2 a.m., the fire spread over an area of 3,500 m². A firefighter interviewed by local public television said that 50 firefighters and 20 fire trucks were needed to put out the fire, which was difficult to control because of the risk of the building collapsing.
Suspect arrested
The fire was likely started by a drunken man who fired a distress flare at the dance floor, Tass reported, citing emergency service sources. “He was at the bar with a woman, to whom he offered flowers with a distress flare in his hands”. “He went to the dance floor and shot,” according to these sources.
The police finally announced the arrest of a suspect after a few hours. “Following a set of search measures, police officers identified and arrested a suspect for an illegal act in one of the night bars in the city of Kostroma, which caused a fire and the death of victims” , the Russian Interior Ministry said in a statement, without giving further details on the profile of the suspect.