The Ivano-Frankivsk regional prosecutor's office, in connection with the fire in Kosivska Central District Hospital, is carrying out procedural guidance in criminal proceedings initiated on the fact of violation of fire or man-made safety requirements established by law, as a result of which people died and sustained injuries.

"According to the investigation, on the evening of December 28, 2021, a fire broke out on the 1st floor of the intensive care unit of the Kosivska Central District Hospital. Three patients: two women and a man died. Three doctors received burns of varying severity. They were hospitalized. According to preliminary data, the cause of the fire is violation of fire safety requirements," the prosecutor's office said.

Investigative actions are being carried out to establish all the circumstances of the criminal offense.

The pretrial investigation continues.

In turn, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported that five oxygen concentrators were operating simultaneously in the intensive care unit, which created conditions for air oversaturation with oxygen.

"After the tragic death of one of the hospital's patients from COVID-19, one of the employees of the institution traditionally set up a memorial candle. The contact of an open fire with oxygen-saturated air in the intensive care unit instantly set fire to medical equipment, tissue and other items ... In such conditions of rapid spread of fire could not be avoided," the message says.

Currently, doctors are fighting for the lives of those who have been injured. It is also noted that the State Emergency Service will conduct urgent inspections of hospitals for the state of fire safety.

As reported, an explosion occurred in Kosivska Central District Hospital, followed by a fire. The staff of the medical facility was evacuated by 12 patients even before the arrival of the fire and rescue units.

Later, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported that in the ward where the fire occurred, the bodies of two dead (bedridden patients) were found, and four medical workers were injured, two of whom were in serious condition and two in a state of moderate severity. The victims were hospitalized with burns in the hospital.

Head of Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration Svitlana Onischuk said that as a result of the explosion and the subsequent fire in the intensive care unit in Kosivska Central Regional Hospital (Ivano-Frankivsk region), four people died, another three were hospitalized in the regional hospital.

The fire damaged a ward, medical equipment and beds on an area of 55 square meters. Twenty-one people and six units of equipment were involved in extinguishing, of which 11 people and two units of equipment were from the State Emergency Service.