Suspected perpetrator of deadly bar fire in Russia arrested

 

At least 15 people died on Friday night in a fire in a bar in Russia in Kostroma, some 300 kilometers northeast of Moscow, according to the Tass agency, which mentions the track of a drunk man who fired a flare. Initially, the governor of the region, Sergei Sitnikov, had reported on the social network Telegram that 13 people had died and five others were injured but did not need to be hospitalized.

 

Two more bodies were discovered. This means that the number of dead is now 15," the Tass agency said, citing emergency services sources. The fire was probably started by a drunk man who fired a flare on the dance floor, wrote the Tass agency, citing sources in the emergency services. "He was at the bar with a woman, to whom he offered flowers with a flare in his hands". "He went to the dance floor and shot," these sources said.

 

Russian police announced Saturday that they have arrested the suspected perpetrator of a bar fire in Kostroma. "As a result of a set of search measures, police officers 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," the Russian Interior Ministry said in a statement, without giving further details on the suspect's profile.

 

Some 250 people were evacuated from the warehouse where the fire broke out, according to local authorities. The fire, which occurred in a dance bar and restaurant called "Poligon", initially billed as a cafe, was extinguished by early morning, the governor said.