KEMEROVO, December 10 (RIA Novosti) - The administration of the Kemerovo region in Russia's southwestern Siberia refuted Sunday reports about an allegedly delayed signal of a fire in a local clinic, which killed nine and injured 15 people.

The fire at the psychiatric and neurological clinic near the city of Taiga broke out at 21:32 p.m. Moscow time (18:32 p.m. GMT) Saturday. But the regional emergency situations center said the clinic's personnel sent a fire signal with a considerable delay.

"It has become known that the fire alarm on the second floor of the building went off at 20:15 p.m. Moscow time (17:15 p.m. GMT) December 9. However, the clinic's personnel reported about the fire only in 1.5 hours after ignition. During all this time, people who were inside the building tried to put out the fire on their own," the emergencies center said.

The Kemerovo region administration said the fire signal was sent to firefighters immediately after a fire alarm went off in the clinic.

"The signal about ignition was sent to the firefighting service automatically, at the time the fire alarm went off," the press office of the regional administration said.

The firefighters arrived at the scene as quickly as possible because the clinic is located several miles away from the city, the press office said.

There were 223 patients in the clinic at the time the fire broke out. Most of them were evacuated, the emergencies center said.

All the nine persons killed in the fire died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Most of them have been identified while 15 persons have been hospitalized with injuries and burns. The clinic's survivor patients have been sent to the psychiatric and neurological clinics in the cities of Anzhero-Sudzhensk and Kemerovo for rehabilitation, the emergencies center said.