Nine pensioners died on Monday in an old people's home in the central Russian town of Vyshny Volochek, Tversakaya region, a spokeswoman for the regional emergencies department said.

"According to preliminary information, at least nine people died. Another was injured and is in hospital in a semi-critical state," Elena Smirnykh said.

A local police source said one of the dead, an 86-year old pensioner, is believed to have intentionally caused the fire. A gas canister was found in the home and it is thought that the elderly man doused himself in gasoline in his own room before setting himself alight.

The man was caught up in an ongoing bureaucratic row that prevented him from receiving his own apartment.

"He waited a long time for the apartment and did not get it. It is most certainly the cause of the act," the source said.

It later emerged that the pensioner was due to receive the flat in October.

MOSCOW, August 30 (RIA Novosti)