Kozlovichi Mental Asylum
Encyclopedia
Kozlovichi Mental Asylum was an institution for the mentally ill in Randilovshchina, Grodno Province
, Belarus
. The wooden construction housing the building was built in 1905 and destroyed by fire on October 12, 2003. The fire killed thirty patients.
's spokeswoman, Natalya Petkevich, said that a patient (among those who died in the fire), described as a pyromania
c who had twice previously tried to set fire to the building, was responsible for the blaze, government investigators were also looking into staff carelessness as a possible cause. Staff members, some of whom had been sleeping in a separate building on the campus, apparently tried to put the fire out and rescue patients themselves, waiting to call the fire department.
Hrodna Voblast
Hrodna Voblast or Grodno Oblast is a voblast in northwestern Belarus.The capital - Grodno is the biggest city of the province. It lies on the Neman River. Grodno's existence is attested to from 1127. Two castles dating from the 14th - 18th centuries are located here on the steep right bank of...
, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
. The wooden construction housing the building was built in 1905 and destroyed by fire on October 12, 2003. The fire killed thirty patients.
Fire
Although President Alexander LukashenkoAlexander Lukashenko
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko has been serving as the President of Belarus since 20 July 1994. Before his career as a politician, Lukashenko worked as director of a state-owned agricultural farm. Under Lukashenko's rule, Belarus has come to be viewed as a state whose conduct is out of line...
's spokeswoman, Natalya Petkevich, said that a patient (among those who died in the fire), described as a pyromania
Pyromania
Pyromania in more extreme circumstances can be an impulse control disorder to deliberately start fires to relieve tension or for gratification or relief. The term pyromania comes from the Greek word πῦρ . Pyromania and pyromaniacs are distinct from arson, the pursuit of personal, monetary or...
c who had twice previously tried to set fire to the building, was responsible for the blaze, government investigators were also looking into staff carelessness as a possible cause. Staff members, some of whom had been sleeping in a separate building on the campus, apparently tried to put the fire out and rescue patients themselves, waiting to call the fire department.