Russia bar blaze kills 13; suspect with flare gun detained

Authorities launch legal proceedings after man allegedly fired a flare gun throughout a confrontation, setting the nightclub alight.

A minimum of 13 folks died in an in a single day fireplace at a nightclub within the Russian metropolis of Kostroma and police detained a person suspected to have ignited it by firing a flare gun.

Video shared by investigators on Saturday confirmed firefighters spraying water on what seemed to be the smouldering, collapsed roof of the constructing.

The fireplace befell at Polygon, a multipurpose recreation venue used as a restaurant, nightclub and bar.

“Because of the hearth, 13 folks died. The variety of useless and injured is being clarified,” the judicial investigating committee stated in a press release.

TASS information company cited investigators as saying the hearth might have began after a person fired a flare gun indoors.

Witness testimony steered the person might have been angered after his advances have been spurned.

“He was spending time within the bar with a lady, ordered her flowers, with a flare gun in his fingers,” an unnamed witness instructed the Russian information company. “Then he went to the dance ground and fired it.”

Rescuers evacuated 250 folks from the constructing whereas greater than 50 firefighters labored to extinguish the blaze.

The fireplace put out at 7:29am (04:29 GMT), in line with the regional governor, who put the variety of injured at 5.

Kostroma, a metropolis of about 270,000 folks, is 300km (190 miles) northeast of Moscow on the banks of the river Volga.

In 2009, somebody set off fireworks on the Lame Horse nightclub within the Russian metropolis of Perm, killing greater than 150 folks.