Seven dead in Moscow clinic fire

Seven people have died and 12 have been injured in a fire at a home for the mentally ill near the Russian capital, Moscow, reports say.

Some 52 people were in the building when the blaze broke out, officials told Russia's Itar-Tass news agency.

It is not known what caused the fire, which started early in the morning in the town of Dmitrovsky Pogost.

Fire crews were at the scene within a few minutes and the patients were evacuated before it was extinguished.

According to Itar-Tass, initial efforts to contain the fire were hampered by a lack of water outlets near the building - which was completely destroyed by the blaze.

A spokesman at the Moscow regional prosecutor's office told Itar-Tass that arson and a short circuit were possible causes of the fire. Investigators are working at the scene.