The fire in a retirement home in Ichbouldino (Russia) left 11 people dead.

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mercom / TASS / Sipa USA / SIPA

Eleven people died in a fire that occurred during the night of Monday to Tuesday in a retirement home located in the small village of Ichbouldino, in Bashkortostan (Russia).

Built in the 1960s, the 72 square meter wooden mansard building was almost completely destroyed by fire.

At the time of the fire, 15 people were inside.

Four of them managed to escape, the Russian Investigation Committee said in a statement.

Victims aged between 57 and 83

"The bodies of the other eleven were discovered" by firefighters, according to this institution responsible for criminal investigations in Russia.

The victims - seven men and four women - were between 57 and 83 years old, according to local news site Ufa1.ru.

They were all residents of this retirement home which mainly accommodated sick elderly people, many of whom could not get around on their own, says the site.

“They had no chance of surviving.

They were bedridden patients, ”said village resident Aïslou Khamziïeva to the Ren-TV television channel.

If the building was equipped with a fire alarm system, it was not connected to the fire department, and they were not notified in time, the channel said.

The existence of the establishment not known to the authorities?

The authorities claim that they were not aware of the existence of this establishment.

"It was a private retirement home, we had no information about it," said the local Minister of Social Protection, Lenara Ivanova, quoted by the public press agency RIA Novosti.

Registered as a "charity house", the establishment was authorized to provide social assistance to the elderly, without however having the authorization to house them, indicated the local administration quoted by the Interfax news agency.

An investigation for breach of safety rules resulting in reckless death has been opened.

Accidental and deadly explosions or fires are relatively common in Russia due to dilapidated infrastructure or non-compliance with safety standards.

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