Russian police detains suspect after fire in Kostroma bar kills 13
Nov 06, 2022
Moscow [Russia], November 6 : Russian police arrested a suspect in the Polygon Club fire where at least 13 people were killed.
According to the TASS News Agency citing the Ministry of Internal Affairs Media website, police have already identified and detained the suspect.
Earlier the report came that 15 people were killed, but later on, Deputy head of the Kostroma Region Ministry of Emergency Situations Directorate Alexey Grekov confirmed that 13 people died in the fire at the Polygon club.
"No, bodies 13 victims were found at the fire location," Grekov told reporters.
In a statement, the Russian Investigative Committee said, "As a result of complex operational-search measures, police officers identified and detained a suspect in an unlawful act in one of the entertainment establishments in the city of Kostroma, which caused a fire and death of people. Currently, the suspect has been handed over to the investigating authorities."
The news agency also reported that 250 people were evacuated from the building.
The fire at the Polygon club started at around 2:30 a.m. local time on a Saturday night with 250 people evacuated from the building.
Earlier, Governor of the Kostroma region, Sergei Sitnikov, said five people were slightly injured and received medical assistance.
The roof of the cafe collapsed during the blaze, which emergency services said spread over an area of 3,500 m2.
State television showed images of dozens of emergency workers fighting a huge fire that had engulfed the single-storey building.
The sign "Poligon" was visible amid the flames raging on its roof.
The TASS news agency, citing sources in emergency services, said a drunk man with a "flare gun" was likely to have caused the fire.
"He was spending time in the bar with a woman, ordered her flowers, with a flare gun in his hands," the source told the agency.
"Then he went to the dance floor and fired it."
Kostroma, home to 270,000 people, is located roughly 340 kilometres (210 miles) north of Moscow by a river.
This isn't the first time pyrotechnics have sparked a deadly fire in Russia.
In 2009, more than 150 people were killed in a blaze at the Lame Horse nightclub in the city of Perm that erupted after someone set off fireworks, reported euronews.
