A psychiatric patient set fire to a hospital in western Belarus today and at least 30 patients died in the blaze before firefighters managed to evacuate the building, the Emergencies Ministry said.
"By initial indications, one of the patients started the fire," a spokesman said. "We are investigating the incident."Interfax news agency said hospital staff had tried to control the blaze, which started early this morning, and called the fire brigade only when this became impossible.
The ministry said firemen had managed to evacuate 31 patients from the hospital in the Grodnen region near the Polish border, and had found 30 corpses.
One patient was missing, and emergency workers were combing through the ruins of the hospital, which was almost completely destroyed in the blaze.
Fires are frequent in crumbling institutions in former Soviet states, where buildings are often made of wood and heating systems are old and leaky. Fifty children died in two separate school fires in Russia in April.