MOSCOW, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- At least 67 people died in almost 600 fires across Russia in a 24-hour period on New Year's Eve, fire officials said Friday.
The ghastly toll is actually an improvement over last year, RIA Novosti reported. On Dec. 31, 2008, 99 people were killed in 815 fires.
"In the past 24 hours, a total of 589 fires have occurred in Russia, including 479 fires in residential buildings. A total of 67 people were killed and 144 injured as a result, 77 people were rescued," a spokesman for the Emergencies Ministry said.
Russia's fire death total is high because of weak regulations and lack of enforcement of safety laws that do exist. In 2008, fires killed 15,165 people in Russia, 584 of them children, while the United States, with a population about double Russia's, had 3,400 fire deaths.
A Dec. 5 fire in a nightclub in Perm in the Ural region has claimed more than 150 lives. The fire, caused by on-stage fireworks, spread quickly through flammable furnishings in the club, and the audience was trapped because there was only one marked exit.
