Russian President Dmitry Medvedev demanded on Tuesday that all those responsible for the recent nightclub fire in the Urals that killed 118 people be brought to justice.
The fire at the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm occurred during an indoor fireworks display in the early hours of Saturday. About 116 people still remain in hospitals. Four people hospitalized with injuries have died over the past 24 hours.
"It is clear that the hosts of the show are irresponsible scoundrels, but the role of state-owned bodies, including federal ones, should also be looked into," Medvedev said at a meeting with Prosecutor General Yury Chaika.
The president urged criminal, administrative and civil responsibility for the incident, which, according to the press service of the Perm municipal administration, left 59 children without one or both parents.
"This is a priority task. Otherwise we will not get out of this series of incidents," Medvedev said.
The Perm fire occurred a week after a terrorist bomb attack on a Nevsky Express train from Moscow to St. Petersburg that left 26 people dead and more than 90 injured.
Another deadly accident in August claimed 75 lives when three turbines at Russia's East Siberian Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant were totally destroyed by a surge of water that flooded much of the complex.
Charges were brought on Monday against Lame Horse executive director Svetlana Yefremova, acting art director Oleg Fetkulov and co-owner of the club Anatoly Zak, as well as director of the Pirotsvet fireworks supplier Sergei Derbenev.
Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu sacked on Tuesday a chief fire inspector and six other officials in the Perm Territory over the incident.
Checks are being conducted at nightclubs and other leisure and entertainment facilities across the country.
GORKI, December 8 (RIA Novosti)
