One more Perm nightclub fire victim discharged from hospital.

PERM, January 10 (Itar-Tass) - Another person - a young man born in
1983 - injured in the Perm nightclub fire on December 5, 2009 has been
discharged from Moscow's clinical hospital No 36 on Saturday.

As of today, 56 people who were injured in the fire are staying at
hospitals, 41 patients are undergoing treatment in Moscow, 11 - in St.
Petersburg, 2 - in Chelyabinsk and 2 - in Perm.
The death toll of the nightclub fire has reached 155.
The accident occurred at about 02:15 local time (about 2015 GMT) when
the party was in progress. The firecrackers brought for the party were too
big for closed premises and were intended for use outdoors. As a result,
one of the firecrackers exploded.
Fumes of burning foam polystyrene caused the death of many guests of
the Perm nightclub, a source close to the investigation team told
Itar-Tass earlier. "According to forensic experts, the nightclub used foam
polystyrene as sound insulation. Fumes from burning foam polystyrene
smothered guests," he said. The suspended ceiling was treated with
fireproof substances, which made it resistant to blaze, but the insulation
caught fire. Burning foam polystyrene emits toxic substances, and "one or
two breaths can kill a person," the source said.
Approximately 300 people were in the club when the fire began.
Ignition occurred when a performance artist threw cold-flame pyrotechnics
into the air. Sparks from the fireworks hit the plastic covering of the
ceiling, igniting it. An announcer then told the guests to evacuate. As
the crowd began to calmly exit the building, the wooden decorations on the
interior walls of the club ignited, and the building filled with smoke.
When the evacuation started, some people left via rear exits. The vast
intake of oxygen turned the club's hall into a large fire tube and boosted
the spread of fire. As fumes and smoke overtook the air, panic erupted and
patrons stampeded toward the exit. According to witnesses, one leaf of the
club's double doors was sealed shut, and the public was unaware of the
backdoor exit behind the stage not shown by emergency lighting.
Pyrotechnics blast is the main theory of the Perm nightclub fire. A
short circuit is not ruled out either,
The entire nightclub management was taken into custody, and the court
authorized their arrest. Another charge has been brought against Perm
nightclub owner Alexander Zak, head of the Perm territorial department for
economic crimes Vladimir Kim said.
He said Zak was charged with the evasion of several million-rouble
taxes on the illegal extension to the nightclub building. Officially, the
nightclub had 450.5 square meters of space, but the actual size neared 670
square meters.
Nightclub Executive Director Svetlana Yefremova and Artistic Director
Oleg Fetkulov were taken into custody together with Zak and charged with
violations of fire safety rules. The fourth suspect, Pirotsvet
pyrotechnical company director Sergei Derbenev, was charged with causing
death through negligence. The Perm Leninsky District Court authorized a
two-month arrest of all the suspects on December 6. Chief fire inspector
of the Perm territory Vladimir Mukhutdinov is the fifth suspect, charged
with culpable negligence.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin dispatched two planes equipped
to transport burn trauma victims. President Dmitry Medvedev sent many
high-level government officials to Perm to aid the victims, manage the
incident, and start the criminal investigation, commenting that those who
started the blaze "have neither brains nor conscience." Medvedev declared
December 7, 2009 a national day of mourning. In Perm, a hotline was
established for residents seeking information about the injured or
deceased.
Rumours have circulated that the incident was a terrorist plot, but
the Russian Prosecutor's Investigative Committee spokesman, Vladimir
Markin, declared that the fire was caused by unsanctioned use of fireworks
indoors.
The fire was the deadliest in Russia since the fall of the Soviet
Union in 1991. The previous high death toll for a fire was in March 2007,
at a Krasnodar assisted living home, which claimed 63 lives. There have
been several other deadly fires in public places around Russia in recent
years, attributed to the lax enforcement of fire safety regulations.
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