MOSCOW, May 12. /TASS/. Firefighters have extinguished the fire in an intensive care unit at the St. George Hospital in St. Petersburg, which killed five people, a source in the emergency services informed TASS on Tuesday.

"As of now, the fire has been fully eliminated," the source informed.

A fire took place in an intensive care unit of the St. George Hospital in St. Petersburg earlier on Tuesday. The area of the fire reached 10 square meters. Five patients put on artificial ventilation machines were killed. The fire may have been caused due to one of the ventilation machines short circuiting, a source in the emergency services told TASS earlier. Criminal proceedings have been launched on charges of manslaughter. 150 people have been evacuated.

On May 9, a fire was reported at a Moscow hospital after an artificial ventilation machine short circuited. An elderly woman was killed in the fire, while 295 people were evacuated.