A drunk man in the Perm Territory in Russia's Urals was saved by his cat when his apartment caught fire, regional emergency services said on Friday.

The heavily inebriated man fell asleep with a lit cigarette, which started a fire, an emergencies ministry statement said. He was woken up by his cat scratching his face and immediately called the fire service.

"The firefighters arrived at the scene in three minutes, the apartment was ablaze," the statement said. "No other residents were inside the house at the time of the fire. In 15 minutes the blaze was put out. No one was injured. The neighboring apartments were saved."

Russia's emergency services reported that 15,165 people died in fires in 2008, including 584 children. In the United States, with more than twice the population, there are about 3,400 fire-related deaths a year.

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, December 4 (RIA Novosti)