5 Killed, Including Child, After Boiling Water Floods Hotel in Russia: Reports
Five people were killed, including a child, in Russia on Monday after a heating pipe burst and flooded the rooms of a small hotel with boiling water, according to reports.
The incident occurred overnight at the Mini Hotel Caramel in the city of Perm, and sent at least three additional people to the hospital for burn injuries, Reuters and the BBC reported.
Six people total were injured, according to the Associated Press, and all of the victims were guests of the hotel, which is located in the basement of a residential building.
Their bodies were only found after the scalding water was pumped out of the hotel, the BBC reported.
Injured victims include a 33-year-old woman with burns covering 35 percent of her body, and a 28-year-old man and 35-year-old man, according to The Moscow Times.
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The building’s management company said that the hotel did not have an emergency exit, and that the water pipe that burst was from 1962, Agence France-Presse reported.
Citing local media, the BBC reported that the hotel’s last inspection, in February, found “numerous” safety violations.
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Russian police have reportedly launched an investigation into the incident, which left 20 local buildings — including a hospital and school — without heat or hot water.
“Hostels shouldn’t be open in basements, where all pipelines are located,” Russian lawmaker Oleg Melnichenko told the AP as he mulled over a possible ban on accommodations in residential buildings.
