KIEV: Ukrainian authorities on Friday detained four people in connection to a nursing home fire as the country announced a national day of mourning for the victims of the blaze.
The fire broke out on Thursday on the second floor of an illegal care home in Kharkiv, the second-largest city of the ex-Soviet republic, killing 15 people and injuring several others.
The country's Prosecutor-General Iryna Venedyktova said on Facebook that "four people were detained", including the owner of the two-storey building, the tenant and his wife, who was the director of the care home.
They also detained the administrator of the nursing home.
Investigators are currently looking into three potential causes of the fire: arson, misuse of electric devices and a short circuit.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who visited the scene of the tragedy in the morning, announced a national day of mourning on Saturday for the victims of the fire.
Nine people were rescued from the flames while five of them were hospitalised.
Authorities said the care home that charged more than $480 (400 euros) per month -- a large sum for Ukraine -- was not officially registered and was operating illegally.
Deadly fires are not uncommon in Ukraine, where compliance with safety regulations is poorly enforced and ageing infrastructure is badly maintained.
In December 2019, a fire killed 16 people and injured 30 others at a higher education institution in the Black Sea city of Odessa.
The director was later arrested on charges of negligence.