38 people died in a horrific fire at a mental hospital just outside Moscow on Thursday night, officials say. The cause is believed to be a short circuit in the wiring.

Of the victims, 36 were patients and two were doctors. It’s been reported that only three people managed to escape the one-story building; fire officials are investigating the cause, but say it appears to have originated in a wooden annex of the hospital before spreading to the patient area. Because most of them were under heavy sedation, the victims were tragically burned alive in their beds.

In an unfortunate turn of events, not only did the fire spread quickly because of the wooden structure of the building, but firefighters were delayed arriving on the scene by more than an hour because they were forced to make a detour.

The Emergency Ministry is looking into fire safety protocol as Russia has a notoriously tragic past; about 12,000 deaths were reported in 2012 alone.

Image: Ministry for Emergency Situations