SYKTYVKAR, February 1 (RIA Novosti) - At least 22 people died after fire broke out in a wooden care home in northwest Russia, the regional investigation department said on Sunday.
The blaze started late on Saturday in the village of Podyelsk, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) away from Syktyvkar, the capital of the Komi Republic. Firefighters managed to bring the fire under control early on Sunday. The fire was fully extinguished several hours after that.
By now, 22 bodies and two body fragments have been found, the investigation department said.
The care home housed 27 residents, most of them elderly people, earlier reports said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the government to carry out a thorough investigation of the incident and dispatched a special envoy to investigate the case.
Arson to conceal the traces of a murder could have been the cause of the fire, Nikolai Basmanov, head of the regional investigation department told the Russian's president's envoy.
At the same time, Basmanov said that careless smoking was also among the main versions being examined by investigators.
The Komi authorities announced February 3 as a day of mourning for the victims of the care home fire.
More than 1,000 people have died in fires so far this year in Russia. In 2007, 16,000 perished in blazes in the country.
