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Russian police have arrested a man suspected of starting a bar fire that killed at least 15 people after allegedly firing a flare gun into the dance floor.
The man was arrested after the fire broke out in the early hours of Saturday morning in bar ‘Poligon’ in Kostroma.
Police said at least 15 people were killed and others injured.
Police have reportedly detained a 23-year-old married man named Stanislav Ionkin on suspicion of starting the fire when he fired the flare.
Other reports described a fight that escalated into a “mass brawl.”
Firefighters fought into the early hours to extinguish the blaze at the bar, about 300 kilometers (180 miles) northeast of Moscow.
Russian firefighters work to put out a fire at the bar in Kostroma, Russia November 5, 2022
Russian emergency officials said fire killed 15 people at ‘Poligon’ bar in Kostroma
According to authorities, the fire started around 2 a.m. local time and was extinguished around 7:30 a.m
“Police officers identified and arrested the suspected (behind) illegal acts in an entertainment venue in the city of Kostroma, which resulted in a fire and people’s deaths,” the Russian police said in a statement.
“He has now been handed over to investigative authorities.”
A video from Mash media showed military Stanislav Ionkin being held over the nightclub fire.
He was reportedly injured in the war in Ukraine during fighting in August.
After a broken leg, he was hospitalized in the Russian city of Astrakhan. He was on medical leave when he returned to the Kostroma region where he had lived.
The video shows Ionkin begging the police, “Don’t hit me. It is not my fault. Men, don’t twist my arms.’
He then says to the officers: ‘I give up.’
The motive for the incident was unclear.
The Russian Commission of Inquiry has since opened a criminal case of ‘causing death by negligence’.
Among the dead in the nightclub inferno was beautician Natalya Kineshemtseva.
Others identified as having died in the fire were Alexei Yakimov, 40, and Yury Zachinalov.
The fire broke out after a man fired a ‘flare gun’ into the dance floor, first news reports said
The bar, housed in a single-storey logistics center, burst into flames in the early hours of Saturday morning
When the inferno ripped through the Polygon club in Kostroma in the early morning hours, the fire caused the ceiling to collapse.
Some 60 suffered burns and other injuries in the fire, which caused panic among revelers.
According to authorities, the fire started around 2 a.m. local time and was extinguished around 7:30 a.m.
“People were running out just screaming and moaning,” said one man at the club.
The governor of the Kostroma region, Sergei Sitnikov, previously said 13 people were killed, but emergency services said the remains of two other people had been found.
“Two more bodies have been recovered. This means that the number of victims is now 15,” said the Russian news agency TASS.
“He was spending time in the bar with a woman, ordering her flowers, with a flare in his hands,” the source told the agency.
Local emergency services said the fire had spread over 3,500 square meters
“Then he went to the dance floor and fired it.”
The death toll was reportedly worse as four fire doors were locked. Firefighters had to use special cutting equipment to break in to save people.
The club was owned by a local politician Ikhtiyar Mirzoyev, a member of United Russia, the main party supporting Vladimir Putin.
Hero Andrei Kuzmin saved dozens of lives by kicking in a door to allow clubbers to escape. About 250 people were evacuated from the building.
“When the fight started, they turned on the lights, there was a thud and there was smoke immediately,” Kuzmin said.
“It was instantaneous. There was a blow, there was smoke, panic, smoke. All I said was ‘calm down’. Then I stepped in the door. I kicked the door open and people went out.
‘There were a lot of people in the place because it was very popular. I can’t say for sure, but on a rough estimate there were about 300 people, because everything was packed, both the bar and the dance floor, and the tables were all occupied.
During the day it is a typical Russian ‘stolovaya’ – a casual restaurant serving traditional dishes
About 250 people were evacuated from the building when it caught fire
‘[After the fire started] I didn’t think about anything. I was thinking about how I was going to get out of here, that’s what I was thinking about.
‘I took it [the door] out and the crowd rushed through. If I hadn’t taken it out, it would have been terrible.
“We went outside and seconds later smoke billowed through. People ran outside, just screaming and moaning. ‘
One female clubber said, “If it wasn’t for Andrei, we wouldn’t have survived.”
A woman named Yulia said, “The fight started initially and the bouncers pushed everyone away. The fight stopped for a bit. It started again on the dance floor.
“I saw smoke where the fight was going on. There was a loud bang and there was a lot of smoke. Luckily we had an emergency exit.
“We ran out through the kitchen. There was panic and screaming.’
Sergei Vinogradov, 45, said: “We got a lot of people out the window. And then I was choking on smoke. I felt I was going to fall, and I climbed out too’.
He said there was music playing, people dancing and suddenly there was a flash and the plastic ceiling caught fire. People panicked and ran to the only unblocked exit.
A firefighter told regional state television that it took 50 people to extinguish the blaze and that they had used 20 fire trucks
The ‘Poligon’ sign was visible amid the flames on the roof
Sergei and his friends broke a window and started dragging people out. He suffered burns to his back and hands.
Local emergency services said the fire had spread over 3,500 square meters.
On its website, Poligon says it acts as an evening and nighttime “place for recreation and entertainment.”
During the day it is a typical Russian ‘stolovaya’ – a casual restaurant serving traditional dishes.
It is said to be housed in a ‘distribution center’ and popular with the traffic police.
State television showed dozens of rescuers putting out a massive fire that had engulfed the ground floor building.
The ‘Poligon’ sign was visible amid the flames on the roof.
A firefighter told regional state television that it took 50 people to extinguish the blaze and that they had used 20 fire engines.
He said the fire was particularly difficult to put out due to the risk of the building collapsing.
Kostroma, a city on the Volga with about 230,000 inhabitants, is one of the oldest cities in Russia and is known for its medieval architecture and monasteries.