UN Calls For Full Probe Of Moscow Drug-Clinic Fire

(RFE/RL)

December 11, 2006 -- The United Nations' AIDS prevention agency has called for a full investigation into a fire that swept a Moscow drug and alcohol rehabilitation center on December 9.

UNAIDS says many of the 45 women who died in the blaze were HIV-positive. The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry's top fire official says he is "90 percent" certain the blaze was deliberately started.

On the same day, at least nine people died in a fire at a mental-health clinic in the Siberian region of Kemerovo.

(AFP)