(Veliky Novgorod/Wikimedia Commons)

Many of the hospital’s patients including the mentally handicapped, elderly and the regularly institutionalized, were able to escape, reports state news agency RIA Novosti.

SEE ALSO: 38 Killed In Russian Mental Hospital Fire

A committee tasked with investigating the origin of the fire said, “According to preliminary information, the cause of the fire was carelessness on the part of one of the patients.” Today’s incident is the latest in a string of fires at mental institutions across the nation, including one in April that claimed 38 lives.

Read more at RIA Novosti here.

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