VELNE-NIKOLSKAYA, Russia, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations said Tuesday the fire at a home for the elderly in the Tulsa region killed 32 people.
The ministry said the fire in Velne-Nikolskaya, which has been blamed on short-circuit, caused the high death toll because the blaze was not reported for 30 minutes, Itar-Tass reported Tuesday.
"According to preliminary reports, a fire alarm call came 30 minutes after the fire began. The first fire unit arrived to the site five minutes after the call, when the area of the fire had already exceeded 1,000 square meters (10,763 square feet)," said Viktor Beltsov, deputy head of the information department of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations.
"During a final inspection of the home for the elderly at 12:35 Moscow time, a ministry cynologist found one more dead body. Thus, the total number of fire victims has amounted to 32 people," he said.
