TAIGA, Russia, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- A fire at a Russian psychiatric hospital killed nine people, a day after a blaze at a Moscow drug treatment center killed 45 women, fire officials said Sunday.
Officials suspect arson in the overnight blaze at the inpatient clinic in Taiga in southwestern Siberia, which also injured 15 other people, the Russian Information Agency Novosti reported.
It broke out when 223 patients and seven staff were in the building, emergency services officials said.
The hospital's administration denied reports Sunday it waited 90 minutes before calling firefighters.
"The signal about ignition was sent to the firefighting service automatically, at the time the fire alarm went off," the hospital's press office said.
An emergencies center statement had said the hospital waited 90 minutes while "people who were inside the building tried to put out the fire on their own."
The dead died from carbon monoxide poisoning, officials said. Many of the injured had burns and some had injuries from jumping from second-story windows.
Survivors were sent to other hospitals.
In the fire in Moscow Saturday, 45 women died at a drug treatment center when they were trapped behind locked gates and barred windows.
