In the early hours of 5 November 2022, a fire occurred at the Poligon café in the city of Kostroma, Kostroma Oblast,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. The fire killed 15 people and injured 9 others. 250 other people were evacuated. The cause of the fire was reported to be the firing of a flare gun.

Incident

At around 2:00 in the morning, a fire was reported at the Poligon café in Kostroma, prompting more than 50

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

s to extinguish the fire using more than 20

fire engine A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to an i ...

s. According to witnesses and governor

Sergey Sitnikov Sergey Konstantinovich Sitnikov (Russian: Сергей Константинович Ситников; born on 18 January 1963), is a Russian politician and statesman. He has been the 4th Governor of Kostroma Oblast since 28 April 2012. Biography ...

, a drunk man who was courting with a woman, ordered her flowers and fired a flare gun in the dance floor. The subsequent fire spread through more than 3,500 square meters and caused the building's roof to collapse. The inside of the building was almost completely destroyed. Thirteen bodies were initially found, but the remains of two people were discovered later.

Investigation

Immediately after the fire, police opened a criminal investigation into the cause of the fire and police searched for the man who fired the flare gun. The man was later arrested and a case for "causing death by negligence" was opened against him.

Suspect and other arrests

Police arrested 23-year-old reservist soldier Stanislav Ionkin, who had just returned from his service in the

invasion of Ukraine The territory of present-day Ukraine has been Invasion, invaded or Military occupation, occupied a number of times throughout History of Ukraine, its history. List See also *List of invasions *List of wars involving Ukraine References

...

. State-run media later reported that the suspect had admitted to the charges. A relative said that he had been sent back to Russia from Ukraine after being wounded in action. On 11 November 2022, a court in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

ordered the arrest of the owner of the café and the company which managed Poligon. They were both identified as Ikhtiyar Mirzoev and Natalya Belenogova, respectively.

Reactions

Immediate reactions came from Sergey Sitnikov, governor of Kostroma Oblast, who offered condolences on his Telegram channel to the victims' families and friends and said that they were being provided with assistance.

References

2022 disasters in Russia 2022 fires in Europe Accidental deaths in Russia Fires in Russia Kostroma Nightclub fires started by pyrotechnics November 2022 events in Russia {{Russia-hist-stub