BAKU -- Twenty-five drug-rehabilitation patients at a state-run clinic in Baku have been killed by a fire that ripped through their sleeping quarters, described by relatives of victims as a "decrepit" structure where medicated patients were locked inside at night.

Televised footage of the fire early on March 2 showed flames surging through the barred windows of a single-story wooden structure at the Republican Narcological Dispensary in Baku's Xatay district.

Officials said after the blaze was extinguished that the bodies of 25 victims were recovered from the smoldering remains of the building, where 55 bedridden patients were housed. Authorities had initially said at least 30 were killed, but later revised that figure.

Thirty patients were evacuated from the barracks-like building, including four who were hospitalized with serious burns, according to a joint statement from Azerbaijan's Health, Interior, and Emergency Situations ministries and the Prosecutor-General's Office.

The statement said a preliminary investigation suggests that the fire was caused by a short circuit in the building's electrical wiring system at about 6:10 a.m. The fire raged for nearly 2 1/2 hours before it was put out by 10 brigades of firefighters.

Tied To Their Beds

Most patients at the state-run facility are sent there on court orders for the forced treatment of drug addiction, but some patients are admitted voluntarily -- mostly for alcoholism.

Relatives of victims killed by the fire, speaking to RFE/RL on condition of anonymity because of concerns about repercussions in the tightly controlled country, told RFE/RL that only men were being treated at the aging building.

Relatives said the building was in "decrepit" condition, with paint peeling from plywood internal walls and equipment dating back to before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Araz Aliguliyev, the former chief physician at the rehabilitation center, told RFE/RL that the building had been used for archives, bookkeeping and "some accounting purposes" until he left the clinic in 2006.

"We didn't keep our patients there," Aliguliyev said. "It was an old building built in the 1990s. I don't know why they were using it to treat patients."

Relatives also said the standard operating procedure was for patients to be locked inside the building for the night after being given medication.

According to government regulations, patients who have "serious psychological problems" related to drug or alcohol addiction can be locked inside their rooms or "fixed to their beds" as part of their treatment.

But in such cases, hospital personnel are obliged to provide security.

A security guard who was on duty outside of the building at the time of the fire, speaking to RFE/RL on condition of anonymity, said he smelled smoke shortly after the blaze began and was able to open a door to let the survivors escape. But by then, he said, it was too late for the 25 men who perished.

Corruption Blamed

After the fire was extinguished, the facility was visited on March 2 by President Ilham Aliyev, Emergency Situations Minister Kamaladdin Heydarov, Interior Minister Ramil Usubov, and Deputy Prime Minister Ali Hasanov.

Authorities allowed only a crew from state television inside the building to record the scene of death and destruction.

The Prosecutor-General’s Office said it had launched a criminal investigation into alleged violations of fire-safety regulations.

Civil activists blamed official corruption, alleging that the failure of authorities to respect and enforce safety regulations is a factor causing large numbers of casualties in increasingly frequent fires.

"Fire-safety regulations were not respected in the hospital's Soviet-era wooden building," the head of the Property Rights civil advocacy group, Aitekin Imranova, said.

"As a result of systemic corruption, an adequate control over the compliance with fire-safety norms is not in place in Azerbaijan," Imranova said.

Rights groups have for a long time accused Alilyev's government of widespread corruption that undermines the functioning of state institutions.

Aliyev's office said on March 2 that he had taken personal control over "recovery and investigative measures" by setting up a government commission to investigate the cause of the fire.

The president’s office said the team of investigators included "experienced staff of the Prosecutor-General's Office, the Interior Ministry, and the Emergency Situations Ministry."

It also said Aliyev had ordered the allocation of financial aid for families of the victims.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent condolences to Aliyev over the tragedy, the Kremlin said.

There have been several fatal fires at similar secure, state-run hospitals in former Soviet republics where drug addicts or mentally ill people are sent by the state for forced treatment.

Often, such fires occur in old, neglected buildings where many patients are held in lockdown situations.

In December 2006, a fire at a Moscow drug-rehabilitation clinic killed more than 40 female patients.

Russian authorities admitted later that attempts by the women to escape the blaze were hindered by metal bars blocking windows and all but one exit.

Azerbaijan has been plagued by other large-scale fires in the past, in part as a result of aging infrastructure.

In May 2015, 15 people were killed in a blaze at a 16-story residential building in Baku that had been spruced up with flammable Styrofoam facing as part of a “beautification” scheme aimed at improving the country’s global image.

Thousands of people on social media protested against the use of flammable cladding on hundreds of aging Soviet-era apartment blocks across Baku after that fire.

A 1995 Baku subway fire killed 292 people in Azerbaijan’s capital, including 28 children and three rescue workers.

Authorities said that fire was thought to have been caused by an electrical malfunction due to old wiring.

The subway operator and station traffic controller were convicted over that blaze and sentenced to 15 and 10 years in prison, respectively.

Their relatives said the blame should have been placed on the subway system’s managers because they were responsible for the technical condition of the passenger cars.

With reporting by APA, BBC, and AFP</s>BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Azerbaijan authorities say 24 killed in fire at drug rehabilitation clinic.</s>A fire killed 25 people at a drug rehabilitation centre in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku on Friday, officials said. The fire broke out at the country’s Drug Abuse Treatment Centre at 6.10 am local time (7:40 am Indian time), the local news agency APA reported. It was put out after about two and a half hours.

Thirty of the 55 people who were in the building at the time of the fire were rescued, a government statement said. Three of them are in hospital.

Soon after the blaze was reported, ambulances and personnel of the fire and emergency services arrived at the building. Officials said the blaze was probably caused by a problem in the power network of the building. They have filed a criminal case and an investigation is under way.

Azerbaijan faces a chronic shortage of rehabilitation centres for its 30,000 registered drug addicts, according to BBC.</s>BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Azerbaijan authorities say 24 killed in fire at drug rehabilitation clinic.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>At least 25 people have been killed after a fire ripped through a drug rehabilitation center in the capital of Azerbaijan, officials said Friday.

The cause of the fire at the medical establishment in Baku was as yet unknown.</s>BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Authorities in Azerbaijan say at least 24 people have been killed in a fire at a drug rehabilitation clinic in the capital.

Police and prosecutors said in a joint statement on Friday that the fire broke out at 6 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) in Baku and wasn’t put out until three hours later.

They said a short circuit is believed to be the cause of the fire. The Health Ministry said 200 patients and staff have been evacuated, and 34 people have been rescued from the building.

The office of the Azerbaijani president said he had arrived at the scene to oversee the rescue effort.</s>BAKU, Azerbaijan — Authorities in Azerbaijan say at least 24 people have been killed in a fire at a drug rehabilitation clinic in the capital this morning.

Police and prosecutors said in a joint statement that the fire broke out at 6 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) Friday in Baku and wasn't put out until three hours later. A short circuit is believed to be to blame for the blaze at the clinic which is situated in an old, one-story wooden building.

The Health Ministry said 200 patients and staff have been evacuated, and 34 people have been rescued from the building. Three people have been hospitalized.

The office of the Azerbaijani president said he had arrived at the scene to oversee the rescue effort and ordered an investigation into the blaze.</s>Twenty five people died in a fire which tore through a drug rehabilitation clinic in the Azerbaijani capital Baku early Friday, officials said, revising an earlier death toll.

"At 06:10 am a fire broke out at the Republican Narcological Centre in Baku," the General Prosecutor's Office, the health, interior and emergencies ministries said in a joint statement.

"According to the latest data, 25 people died in the fire," said the updated statement, which initially put the death toll at 24.

Four more people were hospitalized with serious burns, the statement said, citing a power grid defect as the initial cause of the blaze at the Health Ministry-run clinic in Baku's southern Khatai district near the Caspian Sea.

Thirty people managed to escape the single-story building and survive the blaze, which has been extinguished. Investigators have opened a criminal case into the incident.

President Ilham Aliyev went to the scene, Azerbaijan's APA news agency reported, while Russian President Vladimir Putin sent condolences.

Video footage broadcast on local television showed huge flames leaping through barred windows of a one-story wooden hospital ward.

Earlier Friday, APA news agency reported that at least 30 people had perished in the blaze.

It said the fire broke out in a ward for bed-ridden patients.

It took some three hours for ten squads of firefighters and rescuers from the emergencies ministry to extinguish the blaze.

The ex-Soviet Caucasus nation has a history of large-scale casualties as a result of fires in residential buildings and elsewhere.

In May 2015, 15 people - including five minors -- died in a fire in a multi-story building in Baku.

In October 1995, 289 people died in a metro fire in Baku, in the world's deadliest subway disaster that was caused by outdated Soviet equipment.</s>BAKU, Azerbaijan — At least 24 people died in a fire early Friday at a drug rehabilitation clinic in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, the authorities said.

The police and prosecutors said in a joint statement that the fire broke out in an old, one-story wooden building around 6 a.m. and burned for three hours. The blaze was attributed to a short circuit.

The Health Ministry said that 200 patients and staff had been evacuated, 34 had been rescued and three had been hospitalized.

The office of President Ilham Aliyev said he had arrived at the scene to oversee the rescue effort and had ordered an investigation into the blaze.</s>At least 24 people have been killed in a fire at a drug rehabilitation clinic in the capital of Azerbaijan.

The fire broke out at 6am local time in Baku and was not put out until three hours later, police and prosecutors said.

They said a short circuit is believed to be the cause of the fire.

The Health Ministry said 200 patients and staff have been evacuated and 34 people have been rescued from the building.

The office of the Azerbaijani president said he had arrived at the scene to oversee the rescue effort.
At least 25 people are killed in a fire at a drug-rehabilitation clinic in Baku, Azerbaijan.