22 killed in fire at illegal shelter in Russia

In this handout photo released by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service, firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a nursing home in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, Russia, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022. Russia’s emergencies ministry said Saturday that 20 people were killed in a fire at a nursing home in the Siberian city of Kemerovo. The fire broke out before dawn in the two-story wooden building in the city 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) east of Moscow. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)

A fire has killed 22 people at a private shelter operating illegally in the Russian city of Kemerovo, officials said.

Initial reports described the wooden building in the Siberian city – 1,900 miles east of Moscow – as a nursing home, but the country’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, later said it was a “temporary residence for persons in a difficult life situation”.