Investigators have opened a criminal case...

Colonel Yevgeny Chernyshev died Saturday when personally checking whether there were people left in the fire-engulfed building. The fire embraced an area of 1,800 square meters and took five hours to extinguish. Six people were safely evacuated.

"A criminal case on article 219 part 2 has been started [violation of fire safety regulations]. An investigation is underway, a number of expert evaluations have been appointed," Sergei Marchenko, a spokesman for Moscow prosecutors, said.

Should any suspects be found guilty, they would face up to five years in jail.

Oleg Mitvol, the prefect of Moscow"s northern district, said Saturday that the last fire inspection of the building took place in 2007 and a new check was scheduled for 2010.

President Dmitry Medvedev ordered nationwide fire safety checks after a fire late last year killed over 150 people at a nightclub in the west Urals city of Perm.

MOSCOW, March 21 (RIA Novosti)