Moscow holds day of mourning for 38 killed in hospital fire

Moscow is holding a day of mourning Saturday to honor the victims who died in a hospital fire outside of the city.

"All scheduled entertainment events have been canceled in connection with the mourning,” the press service for acting Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov said.

Police said that 38 out of the 41 people present in the hospital died in the fire early Friday.

Investigators say a nurse had heard the fire alarm, but because of heavy smoke only two patients were evacuated.

The blaze broke out around 2:30 am local time in Moscow in the part of the psychiatric hospital that houses patients with more severe conditions.

More from GlobalPost: At least 38 die in Russian psychiatric hospital fire

Vorobyov said that the families of the patients who died Friday in the village of Ramenskaya near Moscow will get compensation.

"The Moscow region will pay 500,000 rubles ($16,000) to the victims’ families. We are also going to cover all burial expenses," Gov. Vorobyov said.

Residents of the village told the New York Times how they were forced to stand helpless by while the building burned.

"What could you do?" one neighbor told a television crew. "You couldn’t help them with a bucket of water from a ditch. There was no hose, no hydrant."

Russia has more than its share of horrific fire deaths, with unenforced safety codes, lack of fire alarms and little oversight causing about 12,000 fire deaths last year alone.