On Thursday morning, there has been an outbreak of fire in the Hrodna regional psychiatric hospital Zhodzishki which is located in Smarhon district. Two persons, a woman and a man, are dead.
The ignition source was a TV set in the lobby on the first storey. The blaze quickly spread to the walls and ceiling of the building. After calling out the firemen, doctors and nurses started to evacuate the patients.
“Before the arrival of rescuers, almost all patients were out of the fire zone. Unfortunately, one of them (for unclear reasons) returned to the smoky corridor, where he died. A female patient was taken to the open air by the emergency response team. However, resuscitation measures did not have any effect,” the Health Ministry reports.
The firefighters prevented the spread of fire. Health Minister Uladzimir Karanik and local health official Alena Kratkova have arrived at the scene. The patients are being redirected to other hospitals.
It is not the first blaze that has left people dead in Belarusian psychiatric clinics. In 2003, a fire event at a mental hospital in Kazloushchyna (Hrodno region) killed 31 persons.
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