The Russian Interior Ministry said in a statement that it had “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”.
“He has been handed over to the authorities in charge of the investigation,” the ministry statement said.
At first, the governor of the region, Sergei Sitnikov, had reported, on Telegram, 13 dead and five people injured but who did not need to be hospitalized.
“Two more bodies have been found. This means the death toll is now 15,” Tass said, citing emergency service sources.
The Russian Investigative Committee, in charge of the main investigations in the country, for its part indicated that it had “initiated criminal proceedings for a crime” having “caused the death by negligence to two or more people”, specifying that “investigators” and “medical examiners” had “arrived at the scene of the fire”.
The Investigation Committee also released a short video shot at the scene, showing the extent of the damage. The jail roof collapsed completely and was charred by the heat. The bar itself was barely recognizable.
In its statement, the Russian police did not give more details on the profile of the suspect, but according to the Russian agency Tass, citing sources within the emergency services, the fire was probably started by a drunk man who fired a distress flare at the dance floor.
“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.
– 250 people evacuated –
Some 250 people were evacuated from the warehouse in which the fire broke out, according to local authorities.
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. (2300 GMT Friday), the fire spread over an area of 3,500 m2.
According to local media, citing witnesses, the fire led to a crowd movement in the establishment. A man managed to force open a door, releasing several people from the flames, according to these testimonies.
On its site, Poligon advertises itself as a traditional Russian brasserie by day and a dance bar by night, very popular with traffic policemen, open all night.
According to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, the establishment is owned by Ikhtiïar Mirzoïev, a local deputy from Vladimir Putin’s party, United Russia.
Quoted by RIA Novosti, he said he would “give all the necessary help to the families and loved ones of the victims”.
Images previously broadcast by public television showed dozens of emergency service personnel battling the flames.
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.
Kostroma, a city of 230,000 inhabitants located on the banks of the Volga, is one of the oldest cities in Russia, famous for its medieval architecture and its monasteries.
In March 2018, a fire in a shopping center killed 60 people, including around 40 children and adolescents in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, a tragedy that had shocked Russia.
In 2009, 156 people were killed in the great fire of a nightclub in Perm (Urals).
