Thirty-eight people were killed this week, most of which were in their beds, after a fire broke out in a psychiatric hospital near Moscow according to Reuters.

The fire broke out at 2 a.m. and swept though a single-story building at the hospital, and a collection of wood and brick huts with bars on the windows that were homes to people sectioned by Russian courts.

Just hours later only a few blackened walls were left and the roof completely caved in according to Reuters.

Only three people were able to escape the fire in Ramensky, which is 70 miles north of Moscow. Police officials speculated that patients were heavily sedated or strapped down and couldn't leave under their own will.

"The wards did not have doors, the sick could have escaped from the building by themselves," said Irina Gumennaya, the head of the chief investigative department of the Moscow.

Gumennaya said that she believed the most likely cause of the blaze was patients smoking, or a short circuit. She seemed positive that none of the patients were restrained, but promised blood tests to check if they were sedated.

President Vladimir Putin has also called for an investigation of the incident, which is only the latest in a number of disasters at state institutions that don't receive enough money to run properly.

Psychiatrists said at the scene that the fire was not the first to occur there and wouldn't be the last according to Reuters.

"(This happened) because of dilapidated buildings in psychiatric hospitals, a third of the buildings since 2000 have been declared unfit, according to health standards," Yuri Savenko, president of the independent psychiatric association of Russia, said according to Reuters.

Officials said the fire consumed the building quickly and firefighters didn't have a chance to save any more people. Locals disputed this however, who said that firefighters took over an hour to get to the scene.

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