The owner of the “Rodnoy Ochag” (Homely Hearth) retirement home, where 17 people were killed in a fire on May 29, was operating it illegally, Acting Head of the National Police Department in Kyiv Oblast Dmytro Golovyn said at a press briefing on May 30.
“In
order not to compromise the confidentiality of the investigation, I can only
say that 25 investigation actions have been launched by the national police,” Golovyn said.“More than 20 witnesses, neighbors, and relatives of victims were questioned
to clarify what really happened.”
Deputy
Head of National Police Vadym Troyan said that the owner of the illegal residence
for seniors was detained on May 29.
Golovyn said the owner was a businessman from Kyiv, whom he said had
operating eight illegal private retirement homes in Kyiv Oblast for five to six
years.
Troyan
told the RBK-Ukraine news agency that the owner’s name is Oleh Dmytrenko. The
Justice Ministry’s registry of entrepreneurs has only one
entry for a person named Dmytrenko, who is based in the village of Litochki, Kyiv Oblast. According to the registry, Dmytrenko does business in the pharmaceuticals wholesale
trade and renting out temporary housing.
“To
launch a private retirement home a person needs no special documents and has
only to be registered as an individual entrepreneur,” the Justice Ministry
press service told the Kyiv Post.
On
the night on May 29, a huge fire in a
private home for elderly people in the village of Litochki in Kyiv Oblast took the lives of 17 senior citizens.
Another 18 people were rescued from the blaze, with five of them sustaining burns.
When
they arrived at the scene, firefighters found that the roof of the building had
already collapsed and fire had engulfed the rest of the two-storey building. The head of the State Emergency Service in
Kyiv Oblast, Oleh Slobodyanyk, said at a press briefing on May 30 that the private
shelter was located 11 kilometers away from the nearest fire-fighting
department. Rescuers arrived an hour after the start of the fire.
Troyan
said that the owner of the home had signed agreements with the residents, each
of whom paid Hr 6,000 per month for residential care.
The
police have ruled out arson, saying the fire was caused by faulty wiring.
“The
detained owner now faces from three to eight years in prison if found guilty by
the courts of violating state fire safety
rules, resulting in deaths,” said Troyan.
Golovyn said that only two nurses were on duty on the night of a fire.
“So
it is possible that there were not only fire safety violations, but also
violations of care regulations at that enterprise,” he said.
Asked
by journalists at the briefing on May 30 why the Emergency Service hadn’t conducted
a check of the seniors’ shelter, Slobodyanyk said that it was registered as a
private house, and according to the law the State Emergency Service has no
right to conduct checks on private residences.
Kyiv Post staff writer
Veronika Melkozerova can be reached at [email protected]
