The mother of pastor-evangelist Andrei Smirnov from Kemerovo, who organized the shelter,…

The mother of pastor-evangelist Andrei Smirnov from Kemerovo, who organized a shelter where 20 people died in a fire, told the Cheka-OGPU that the cause of the tragedy could not have been a heating boiler. The interlocutor was interrogated by the investigator and claims that the Investigative Committee informed her that there could have been several fires at once. Therefore, versions of careless handling of fire and even arson are still being considered.

“In my opinion, this scenario is more beneficial for some services. The boiler was repaired two days before the fire. Moreover, specialists came. All services and institutions knew about the shelter, some used it and brought homeless people to Andrey. Accordingly, checks were also carried out there,” said the pastor’s mother.

It is known that for the last two years one of the old residents of the shelter named Evgeniy looked after the boiler. He escaped and even called the pastor’s wife asking her to bring him warm clothes to the hospital. Another of the six survivors of the disaster is 70-year-old Vera. The woman lived in a shelter for several years, and when a fire broke out, she managed to save two guests. Now the preacher’s family is actively looking for her to continue helping.

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In addition, investigators told the mother of the main accused, Smirnov, that some of the homeless people who died had already had relatives who were counting on compensation.