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A fire at a hospital in St. Petersburg killed coronavirus patients who had been hooked up to ventilators.
A source at the Russian emergency ministry source said five patients had died and 150 were evacuated after the fire broke out early Tuesday morning on the sixth floor of St George hospital.
The building had been reused to treat Covid-19 victims, the Tass news agency reported, and the patients who died had been hooked up to ventilators.
The RIA Novosti news agency quoted an emergency services spokesperson as saying the fire appeared to have been caused by an electrical malfunction, while Interfax quoted a source as saying it was an “overload” of fans “to the limit. “
The Russian Investigative Committee, which examines serious crimes, said it had launched an investigation into the incident.
A fire at a Moscow hospital treating coronavirus patients last week killed one person and forced hundreds to evacuate.
Investigators were also examining the cause of two fatal house fires in Moscow.
Russia has confirmed more than 220,000 coronavirus cases and ranks fourth in a global count of total infections after the United States, Spain, and Britain.
