A fire at a psychiatric hospital in southern Russia killed 23 people, the country’s emergencies ministry said on Sunday.

A fire at a psychiatric hospital in southern Russia killed 23 people, the country's emergencies ministry said on Sunday.

"Nineteen bodies were found at the site of the fire, two other people succumbed to their wounds at the hospital," a ministry spokesman told AFP.

The hospital building, made of wood, was destroyed by the fire, the spokesman said. A further 20 people were injured.

The fire broke out at the hospital in the village of Alferovka, which lies in the region of Voronezh in the south of the country.

It was not immediately clear what triggered the blaze.

The fire was the latest tragedy to hit a psychiatric institution in Russia, where outdated Soviet-era infrastructure is still in widespread use and managers often take a lax approach to fire safety.

Scores of people also die in house fires each year.

A fire at a psychiatric hospital in northwest Russia in September 2013 left 37 people dead while another blaze in April of the same year killed 38.