At least 22 people died when fire gutted a remote, wooden care home in the northwestern Russian republic of Komi, a spokeswoman for the local branch of the Emergencies Ministry said yesterday.

President Dmitry Medvedev dispatched the Kremlin's envoy in northwest Russia to investigate the blaze in the village of Podyelsk, 120 km from the regional capital Syktyvkar, which was brought under control by firefighters early yesterday.

"We have found the bodies of 22 people," said Lyubov Terenteva, head of the press service for the Emergencies Ministry in Komi. "Other fragments of human remains were also found and we believe 23 people died in all."