A fire has killed 22 people at a private shelter operating illegally in the Russian city of Kemerovo, officials said.

Initial reports described the wooden building in the Siberian city – 1,900 miles east of Moscow – as a nursing home, but the country’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, later said it was a “temporary residence for persons in a difficult life situation”.

The committee said a man who rented the building has been arrested and charged with violation of safety regulations resulting in multiple deaths.

The statement did not identify him, but news reports said he was a local clergyman.

The cause of the fire, which broke out before dawn, has not been determined, but the investigative committee said residents told the shelter operator the day before the fire that the coal-fired boiler was malfunctioning.

Six other people were injured in the blaze which destroyed the two-storey building.