One Dead and Four Injured in Prison Fire in Northwestern Russia

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) - One prisoner died and four others were hospitalised after a fire on the territory of a penal colony in the Russian city of Valday in the Novgorod Region, the local department of the Investigative Committee said on Monday.

"On 6 December, a fire broke out in one of the premises of penal colony No. 4 in the Novgorod Region. When putting out the fire, the body of a man born in 1994 was found in one of the cells. Four more prisoners were hospitalised", the committee said in a statement.

A source in the emergency services told Sputnik that the incident occurred in a solitary cell of a one-storey brick building.

"The area of the fire was 9 square metres [3.4 square miles]", the source said.

Investigators are examining the scene to establish the circumstances of the incident.