Thirty-eight people were killed by a fire that raged through an isolated psychiatric hospital north of Moscow on Friday, killing some patients in their beds and others who were trapped by barred windows.

Most of the patients died in their sleep inhaling the fumes as they were likely sedated by prescribed medicine, a police source told the RIA Novosti news agency.

Firefighters were delayed getting to the single-story building because of a closed river crossing. The trip took an hour instead of the expected 20 minutes, according to Russia Today, citing local news outlet Komsomolskaya Pravda.

A small tunnel was discovered dug out under the burned hospital, suggesting that one of the patients may have been planning an escape, Russia Today said.

Only three people - one nurse and two patients - escaped from the fire, which broke out at about 2 a.m. local time Friday (6 p.m. ET Thursday) in the village of Ramensky, 70 miles north of Moscow. 

Pavel Sergeyev / AP

Firefighters and authorities work at a site of a fire of a psychiatric hospital north of Moscow on Friday.

The blaze tore through a collection of wood and brick huts with bars on some windows that was home to people sectioned by Russian courts.

Russia’s Emergencies Ministry published a list of 41 patients and medical staff – ranging in age from 20 to 76 - who were inside the facility when the fire started [PDF link in Russian]. Two medical staff listed as “to be verified” are believed to be dead, Russia Today reported.

By mid morning, a few blackened walls were left standing, Reuters reported. The roof had caved in on top of the twisted metal of what were once beds. Bodies lay on nearby grass, covered with blankets. 

Irina Gumennaya, aide to the head of the chief investigative department of the Moscow region, dismissed suggestions they had been physically restrained as "rubbish" but promised blood tests to check whether there were high levels of sedatives. 

"The wards ... did not have doors, the sick could have escaped from the building by themselves," she said, according to Reuters, adding that she believed the most likely cause of the blaze was patients smoking, or perhaps a short circuit. 

Andrei Vorobyov, interim governor of the Moscow region, told Russia 24 television: "Those who were in there said it happened in a flash. The nurse opened the door to the room and there was smoke, and even when she saw the fire she could not get to the fire extinguisher. It all happened very quickly."

Reuters said more than 12,000 people were killed in fires in Russia in 2011 and more than 7,700 in the first nine months of 2012.

The per capita death rate from fires in Russia is much higher than in Western nations including the United States. Reuters reported:

AFP - Getty Images

A handout photo released by emergency services shows flames rising from the burning psychiatric hospital.

This story was originally published on Fri Apr 26, 2013 4:43 AM EDT

LONDON -- A father was sentenced to life in jail Thursday for starting a fire that killed six of his own children as part of a disastrous plot to frame his former mistress, in a horrific case that has prompted an emotional debate about Britain’s welfare system.

Rui Vieira / AP

Mick Philpott and wife Mairead.

Mick Philpott, his wife, Mairead, and his friend Paul Mosley, were convicted of manslaughter for starting a house blaze that took the lives of the couple’s children Jayden, 5, Jesse, 6, Jack, 8, John, 9, Jade, 10, and 13-year-old Duwayne.

Unemployed Philpott – a father of 17 children by five women – intended to “rescue” his family and blame the fire on his mistress, Lisa Willis, 28, who was seeking court custody of the five children they had together.

When his plan went tragically wrong, the 56-year-old lied to protect himself - even shedding crocodile tears at a police news conference. But detectives quickly uncovered the truth.

The shocking case, in the central England town of Derby, made for emotive headlines in Britain’s newspaper’s Wednesday. “Pure evil” said The Mirror, while The Sun on its front page called Philpott a “child-killing b*****d.”

Steve Cotterill, Assistant Chief Constable of Derbyshire police, said the fire plot was “the most evil act I have ever known” and had led to “a complete and utter waste of six young and innocent lives.”

Reviled figure
Remarkably, Philpott was already a hate figure in Britain, reveling in notoriety on television where he was portrayed as a real-life version of the social underclass featured in the drama series, "Shameless".

He was pilloried for demanding a larger government home for his rapidly-expanding family. He had appeared on the daytime TV tabloid talk show, “The Jeremy Kyle Show,” alongside both his wife and his mistress to face demands that he have a vasectomy.

Both women for many years lived with Philpott, sharing his affections. Willis slept in a camping trailer parked on the tiny front lawn, while wife Mairead stayed in the house. On more than one occasion they were simultaneously pregnant.   

His deceit over the subsequent tragedy was unmasked when detectives noted his behavior did not fit the pattern of a grieving parent – he was observed singing Elvis’ Suspicious Minds during a karaoke session in a local bar – and began monitoring phone calls with his co-accused.

Mark St George / Rex Features via AP

The parents who killed six children in a house fire were sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court, England, Thursday.

Philpott had a history of horrific domestic violence and bullying, but in this instance his crime was motivated by money: Already the recipient of welfare checks owing to his unemployment, Philpott was entitled to further state payments for each of the children under the roof of his rented public home.

In total, he was in legitimate receipt of more than $90,000 a year in government handouts.

“He just wanted a house full of kids and the benefit money that brings,” prosecution lawyer Richard Latham said during the seven-week trial.

Welfare debate
That aspect of the case has further inflamed public anger, coming at a time when austerity-crippled Britain is bitterly divided over welfare payments.

The U.K.’s Conservative-led coalition on Monday introduced sweeping new limits to welfare checks and other government assistance schemes in a bid to save billions of dollars from the national deficit.

The liberal Guardian newspaper gravely characterized Monday’s cuts as “the day Britain changed,” but the government believes the moves have the support of many British taxpayers who are dismayed at some of the welfare checks paid out to large families. The language of the debate has divided the sides into “strivers” versus “skivers,” and “benefit recipients” versus “hard-working families.”

On Wednesday, the Daily Mail described Philpott on its front page as “The vile product of welfare UK” – a headline that drew criticism.

“There are, and have always been, a small minority of individuals capable of breathtaking cruelty,” wrote liberal commentator Owen Jones in The Independent. “The Philpott case relates in no way to people on benefits in this country.”

Derby City Council launched a review of its child welfare service in the wake of Tuesday’s verdict, amid suggestions that it should have intervened to remove the children from Philpott’s care.

However, Ann Widdecombe, a former Conservative minister who made a television documentary in which she tried to persuade Philpott to get a job and stop claiming welfare, said Wednesday: “This was very much a one-off. You cannot blame teachers or social services.

“When I visited, the children were clean, they were well-fed, they were not playing truant. There is no doubt he was using these children as a meal-ticket, but that doesn’t explain this act of wickedness."

“You cannot blame this tragedy on the benefits system," adding that Brits must "keep our heads.”

Related:

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This story was originally published on Wed Apr 3, 2013 2:02 PM EDT

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Muslims prepare to pray around the coffins of the victims of a fire during funerals at Yaeway cemetery in Yangon, Myanmar, Tuesday.

YANGON - A fire caused by faulty electrical equipment killed 13 boys at an Islamic school in Yangon on Tuesday, the fire service said, although some Muslims voiced concern since it came after a wave of anti-Muslim violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

The boys suffocated after the fire broke out in a dormitory of the school in the central, multi-ethnic Botataung district of the former capital at about 2:40 a.m. (4:10 p.m. ET on Monday), neighbors and officials said.

Yangon Region Fire Service said it was setting up a team to investigate the fire with the police, the electricity company and representatives from Muslim groups.

"The fire, caused by the overheating of the transformer placed under the staircase, spread, trapping the boys sleeping in the attic. As a result, 13 twelve-year-old boys died of suffocation after inhaling smoke," a duty fire officer said, reading from a statement.

Armed riot police cordoned off the area but the crowd that had assembled in the area remained peaceful.

According to official records, electrical faults and overheating are major causes of fires in Yangon.

But, against the background of the recent sectarian violence, many Muslims were "very suspicious" about the Yangon fire, said Mya Aye, a Muslim member of the 88 Generation Students' pro-democracy group.

"We are worried and sad because innocent children died," he said.

A funeral for the 13 boys was due to be held on Tuesday afternoon.

Yangon, by far the biggest city in Myanmar, escaped the anti-Muslim violence in March although authorities posted police outside mosques and ordered restaurants in some areas to close early on some evenings as a precaution. 

Related:

PhotoBlog: Freedom of the press returns to Myanmar after 50 years

Muslims vanish as Buddhist attacks approach Myanmar's biggest city

Read more Asia-Pacific stories on NBCNews.com

Lauro Alves / Agencia RBS via AFP - Getty Images

An aerial view of the Taim Ecological Station on fire, in Rio Grande do Sul state, southern Brazil, on March 27, 2013.

A wildfire that started on Tuesday has consumed around 1,400 acres of a protected ecological station in southern Brazil. The fire at the Taim Ecological Station is at risk of spreading further, Agence France-Presse reports, since there is limited access to water. 

Lauro Alves / Agencia RBS via AFP - Getty Images

A fast-moving fire has damaged a 107-year-old museum and library in London, threatening an eclectic trove of artifacts, including relics of the city’s Roman period, local media reported.

Hundreds of firefighters fought a massive blaze at the Cuming Museum and Newington Library in Walworth, southeast of the city’s central area.

The fire, which broke out shortly after noon, was under control by early evening, the Guardian reported.

At one point, the roof was reportedly engulfed in flames with thick black smoke billowing out.

The museum was founded  in 1906 using the Cuming family’s private collection. It is home to historical artifacts from not only Roman London, but China and Africa.

It was not clear how much of the museum’s collection was damaged. Peter Critchell, a fire brigade spokesman, said firefighters would try to salvage as many objects as possible.

Though some 30 people were evacuated during the spectacular blaze, none was reported injured.

The cause of the fire was under investigation, the BBC reported.

Ciro Fusco / EPA

View of a huge fire at the 'City of Science' in Naples, Italy, on March 4.

Ciro Fusco / EPA

View of a huge fire at the 'City of Science' in Naples, Italy, on March 4.

Cesare Abbate / EPA

Members of the fire services continue to hose down a smouldering building amid the scene of devastation in Naples on March 5 following the night time blaze that destroyed much of the southern Italian port's City of Science complex.
Fire Brigades in action the day after the massive blaze that destroyed much of Naples Città della Scienza

From Corriere della Sera:  Naples, Italy - Four pavilions have been gutted by fire at Naples’ Città della Scienza [Science City], the interactive museum considered one of the city’s cultural treasures. The entire Città della Scienza site, which has a total of six pavilions, has been placed under judicial seizure. When fire fighters arrived on the scene on Monday evening, they found flames had swept the whole of the sea-front museum zone, except for the theatre.  Continue reading this story here.

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Slideshow: Nightclub fire in Brazil

Yuri Weber/ Agencia O Dia via Reuters

An interior view of the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, Brazil, after it was destroyed by a fire on Jan. 27.

Launch slideshow

Shoes, bottles and slices of lime lay scattered around the blackened remains of a dancefloor in Brazil on Monday – signs of how quickly a Saturday night student party turned into one of the world’s worst nightclub fires.

End-of-summer celebrations were in full swing at the Kiss club in the university town of Santa Maria when a band’s pyrotechnic display set fire to the sound-proofed ceiling and started a fire that choked dozens to death and saw dozens more trampled in the ensuing panic.

The image of the burned, empty building was in stark contrast to the town’s packed gymnasium where relatives of the victims gathered late on Sunday to mourn after the mortuary became overwhelmed with bodies.

One woman fell to her knees in grief at the coffin of a relative, while others waited to identify their loved ones.

In total, at least 233 died - 120 men and 113 women - while 92 people are still being treated in hospitals, Reuters reported.

About 50 funerals were expected to take place at the municipal cemetery in Santa Maria on Monday, according to Brazilian television news broadcast Zero Hora.

The cemetery opened early, at 7:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. ET), and was planning to conduct burials at half-hour intervals, O Globo reported, saying the army had helped dig graves.

A Brazilian nightclub owner and two members of a band have been arrested by civil police investigating the blaze, newspaper Diario de Santa Maria reported Monday. A fourth person is also being sought, the newspaper said.

It said businessman Elissandro Spohr, also known as ‘Kiko’ – one of the owners of the Kiss nightclub in the city of Santa Maria – was detained “on a temporary basis.”

Marcelo Arigony, a police inspector, said the arrests were "provisional" and that there was not yet a criminal accusation. He declined to confirm the identities of those arrested, saying the investigation "is still quite precarious."

Sphor's lawyer, Jader Marques, told the Diario de Santa Maria that his client was present in the club with his pregnant wife at the moment that a spark from the pyrotechnic flare or fuse handled by the band lit the soundproofing on the ceiling.

The main door of the nightclub was locked at the time, fire chief Guido Pedroso de Melo told O Globo.

He added that firefighters responding to the blaze initially had trouble getting inside the nightclub because "there was a barrier of bodies blocking the entrance.”

Survivors and the police inspector Marcelo Arigony said security guards briefly tried to block people from exiting the club, according to the AP, perhaps fearing that patrons would leave without paying their tab.

But Arigony said the guards didn't appear to block fleeing patrons for long. "It was chaotic and it doesn't seem to have been done in bad faith because several security guards also died," he told the AP.

In a radio interview, the band’s guitarist Rodrigo Martins said the fire began shortly after the band took to the stage at 2.15 a.m. local time Sunday.

"When the fire started, a guard passed us a fire extinguisher, the singer tried to use it but it wasn't working," he said, adding that the accordion player Danilo Jacques, 28, died, while the five other members made it out safely.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Updated at 1:23 a.m. ET: At least 233 people were killed after a band’s fireworks show sparked a rapidly moving fire in a packed nightclub in southern Brazil and fleeing patrons were unable to find their way out, local police said.

The bodies removed from the Kiss nightclub in the southern city of Santa Maria were taken to the Municipal Sports Center gymnasium for identification, police said.

Major Gerson da Rosa Ferreira, who led rescue efforts at the scene for the military police, told Reuters that the victims died of asphyxiation or from being trampled. 

Police Maj. Cleberson Braida Bastianello told the Associated Press by telephone that the toll had risen to 233 with the death of a hospitalized victim.

Officials earlier counted 232 bodies that had been brought to the gymnasium in Santa Maria.

In addition to the number of deaths, more  than 100 people were injured, police said, and most remain hospitalized. Police officials had reported earlier in the day that 245 people were killed. The death toll could still rise, police said later, from the people who are injured.

Fire brigade colonel Guido Pedroso de Melo told O Globo newspaper that rescuers had difficulty entering the premises because of "a barrier of bodies" at  the entrance to the club.

Television footage monitored by Reuters overnight showed people crying outside the club as shirtless firefighters used sledge hammers and axes to knock down an exterior wall to open up an exit. 

Agencia RBS via AP

People help a man injured in a nightclub fire in Santa Maria city, Brazil, on Sunday.

Rodrigo Moura, who the newspaper Diario de Santa Maria identified as a security guard at the club, said it was at its capacity of between 1,000 and 2,000 people and patrons were pushing and shoving to escape, the AP reported. Police estimated the crowd at some 900 revelers.

Fire officials said at least one exit was locked and that club bouncers, who at first thought those fleeing were trying to skip out on bar tabs, initially blocked patrons from leaving, Reuters reported.

The club's management said in a statement it would help authorities with their investigation, Reuters reported.

One of the club's owners has surrendered to police for questioning, GloboNews TV reported. 

"It was really fast. There was a lot of smoke, really dark smoke," survivor Aline Santos Silva, 29, told Globonews TV. "We were only able to get out quickly because we were in a VIP area close to the door." 

President Dilma Rousseff cut short a visit to Chile and visited families of the victims at the Municipal Sports Center, where relatives were gathering to identify the bodies. She met with relatives of the injured at Hospital de Caridade de Santa Maria.

Rousseff declared a national three-day mourning period for victims of the fire. 

“Sad Sunday!” Tarso Genro, the governor of Rio Grande do Sul state where the club is located, tweeted. “We are taking all of the possible and appropriate actions,” the tweet read, according to a rough translation by NBC News. “I will be in Santa Maria later this morning.”

The precise cause of the fire was still under investigation, authorities said. But Luiza Sousa, a civil police official in Santa Maria, told Reuters that the blaze started when someone with the band ignited what was described as a flare, which then set fire to the ceiling. The fire spread "in seconds," Sousa said. 

The tragedy in Brazil recalled other nightclub disaster. A fire in West Warwick, Rhode Island, in 2003 killed 100 people after pyrotechnics used on stage by the rock band Great White set ablaze foam used for soundproofing on the walls. A Buenos Aires nightclub blaze in 2004 killed nearly 200 people. 

Reuters noted that Brazil's safety standards and emergency response capabilities are under particular scrutiny as the country prepares to host the 2014 World Cup soccer tournament and the 2016 Summer Olympics. 

The Brazilian state’s Health secretary, Ciro Simoni, told the news service that emergency medical supplies from all over the state were being sent to the scene. 

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.