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PERM, Russia – Grieving relatives on Sunday began to bury the victims of a nightclub fire that left at least 112 people dead, as four people were ordered held pending an investigation into the country’s worst blaze in decades.
About 130 people remained hospitalized with injuries from the early Saturday blaze, which witnesses said was sparked by onstage fireworks that shot into the decorative twig ceiling of the Lame Horse club in the industrial city of Perm.
The federal Investigative Committee said the suspects — the club’s owner, the executive director, the artistic director and a businessman hired to install pyrotechnics on the night of the blaze — were ordered taken into custody Sunday by Leninsky District Court.
The committee’s Web site said they were suspected of negligence causing multiple deaths and violating fire safety rules causing multiple deaths.
Mourning residents of the Ural Mountain city of over 1 million were indignant over the alleged negligence in a country where enforcement of fire safety standards is infamously poor and there have been several catastrophic blazes at drug-treatment facilities, nursing homes, apartment buildings and nightclubs in recent years.
Nadezhda Zhizhina placed flowers on the icy ground outside the Perm City Morgue in memory of her 21-year-old son, Sergei, who she said left behing a wife who was eight months pregnant.
She wasn’t expecting the compensation officials have promised to other victims’ relatives because Sergei earned money at the club as an unofficial administrator.
“I can’t even imagine what to do,” Zhizhina said, weeping. “He was a golden boy.”
The disaster outraged even those who didn’t lose relatives.
“This is nothing but criminal negligence,” said Marina Dryonina. “A terrible tragedy for our town.”
Many victims were trapped in a panicked crush for the exit as they attempted to escape the flames and thick black smoke.
Russian news agencies named the owner as Anatoly Zak. The pyrotechnics expert was named as Sergei Dergunov by his lawyer, Yekaterina Golysheva.
Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the club managers had been fined twice in the past for breaking fire safety regulations.
Russian clubs and restaurants often cover ceilings with plastic insulation and a layer of willow twigs to create a rustic look, one of many uses of combustible materials in buildings by businessmen who bribe officials to look the other way.
The nation records up to 18,000 fire deaths a year, several times the per-capita rate in the United States and other Western countries.
President Dmitry Medvedev has demanded that lawmakers draft changes to toughen the criminal punishment for failing to comply with fire safety standards.
Monday has been designated a national day of mourning, with entertainment events and television programs canceled.

PHILADELPHIA (AP)—Placido Polanco(notes) is putting aside his Gold Glove and switching positions to have a chance at winning a championship.
Polanco returned to the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday, agreeing to an $18 million, three-year contract.
The 34-year-old free agent won Gold Gloves at second base for the Detroit Tigers in 2007 and this year, but will shift to third base, which hasn’t been his primary position since 2002. He replaces Pedro Feliz(notes), who became a free agent after the Phillies declined his $5.5 million option.
“I always wanted to be here, I never wanted to leave,” Polanco said. “One of the reasons I wanted to come back is because it’s pretty obvious the team is committed to winning. And I want to win. That’s it. They asked me if I was willing to play another position and I was like, ‘Sure.’ I can play third base. I played in college, in St. Louis and I also played some third here. I feel pretty confident about it.”
Polanco first joined the Phillies in the trade that sent Scott Rolen(notes) to St. Louis in July 2002. He hit .297 with 38 homers and 160 RBIs in parts of four seasons in Philadelphia. Once Chase Utley(notes) become the regular second baseman, Polanco’s role was reduced. He was traded to Detroit in June 2005 for reliever Ugueth Urbina and infielder Ramon Martinez(notes).
Polanco batted .285 for the Tigers last season with 31 doubles, 10 homers and 72 RBIs. He hit .341 and made the All-Star team in 2007.
“For him to come back to Philadelphia to change positions, it’s just one of the things he’s about,” Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. “He’s not only a tremendous professional and a championship-type player, but he’s a championship-type person, and that’s what we’re trying to do here, bring championship-type people, both talent-wise and personnel-wise.”
Polanco gets a $500,00 signing bonus, $5 million next season, $5.25 million in 2011 and $6.25 million in 2012. The deal includes a $5.5 million mutual option for 2013 with a $1 million buyout.
“The Phillies were always my first choice,” he said. “I played here, I know most of the guys here, I know the city. And they have a pretty good team that’s committed to win. I thank all of the other teams that expressed interest in me, but the Phillies were always my first choice.”
Polanco is a .303 hitter with 90 homers, 579 RBIs and 71 stolen bases in 12 seasons.
He joins a potent lineup that features five All-Stars—Utley, Shane Victorino(notes), Ryan Howard(notes), Jayson Werth(notes) and Raul Ibanez(notes)—and former MVP Jimmy Rollins(notes). He’s an ideal No. 2 hitter, but that’s been Victorino’s spot in the order.
“I want to win and you look around and we have a lot of great players,” Polanco said. “It seems like you could flip this lineup around and it would still be good, you know? Whatever Charlie wants me to do, I’d be more than happy to do it. I just know everyone here plays to win. Chase, Victorino, Rollins, Howard, everybody.”
The NL champions also agreed to a $750,000, one-year contract with infielder Juan Castro(notes), who hit .277 with one home run and nine RBIs in 57 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season.
The 37-year-old Castro replaces utilityman Eric Bruntlett(notes), who became a free agent. Castro made 19 starts at shortstop, eight at second base and two at third base, while also appearing in left field for two games.
Castro’s contract includes a $700,000 salary next year, and the deal has a $750,000 club option for 2011 with a $50,000 buyout.
“In Juan Castro, we have a versatile guy who can play multiple positions and is coming off a year in which he swung the bat fairly well,” Amaro said. “We’re very happy to add him to our club, as he will give Charlie options.”

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NEW YORK (AP)—Derek Jeter(notes) posed in his crisp pinstripe uniform, resting a shiny black bat on his shoulder, while a photographer lying on the ground near the entrance to a Bronx subway station snapped pictures of the New York Yankees shortstop from a low angle.
Photographing the Yankees captain from below to make him look more regal seemed beside the point. Jeter already has an image that is larger than life.
Jeter was back at Yankee Stadium a couple of weeks after winning his fifth World Series title, capping a stellar season with a photo shoot for his latest achievement: Sports Illustrated’s sportsman of the year.
The magazine made the announcement Monday.
“It’s unbelievable. It was completely unexpected. It came out of the blue,” Jeter told The Associated Press during a break in the photo shoot. “When I heard it, what can you say? It’s one of the greatest honors you can achieve in sports.”
The 35-year-old Jeter is the first Bronx Bomber to be tapped for the award that has been given out since 1954. Swimmer Michael Phelps was last year’s recipient.
“That’s even harder considering all the great Yankee players that have played for this organization,” said Jeter, standing under the banners depicting Yankees greats that hang in the Great Hall of the new stadium. “So I hope I’ve done them proud.”
Sports Illustrated Group editor Terry McDonell certainly thinks he has.
“This verifies my idea that he is on the level of Ruth and Gehrig,” McDonell said. “He’s the greatest shortstop in the history of the game.”
Some other baseball players to win the award are Sandy Koufax (1965), Tom Seaver (1969), Cal Ripken Jr. (1995); and the recent nemeses of Jeter’s teams, Randy Johnson(notes) and Curt Schilling(notes) (2001), and the Boston Red Sox (2004).
All business between the lines, Jeter has become one of the untarnished ambassadors in the steroids era of baseball through steady play and quiet leadership on and off the field.
“He’s so classy,” McDonell said. “He brings a dignity and elegance to the game.”
Jeter’s 2009 season was remarkable.
He batted .334 with 18 homers and 66 RBIs with 30 steals to help lead the Yankees to their first World Series title in nine years—a frustrating drought for the player who won four championships in his first five seasons.
And as calls swelled for Jeter to switch positions after his contract expires in 2010, the 10-time All-Star went out and had one of his best defensive seasons: He made a career-low eight errors in winning his fourth Gold Glove.
He also passed Yankees icon Lou Gehrig’s club record for hits, won the Hank Aaron Award as the AL’s top hitter, and was given the Roberto Clemente Award for excellence on and off the field.
The World Series victory might have been Jeter’s most cherished accomplishment this year, but what clinched the sportsman award for him was his philanthropic work. Jeter’s Turn 2 Foundation has doled out over $10 million in grants since 1996 to organizations that help keep young people away from alcohol and drugs.
“It’s about the manner of the striving and the quality of the effort, too,” McDonell said. “Off the field he has grown so much as a member of the community.”
Coming 15 seasons into a career full of honors, the award could be seen as a lifetime achievement, but both McDonell and Jeter dismissed the idea.
McDonell was impressed by Jeter’s leadership, how he “stepped in and molded a team” this spring with the arrival of three expensive free agents, and Alex Rodriguez’s(notes) admission to using steroids from 2001-03 and then having hip surgery that kept him out until May.
For Jeter, who only looks as far ahead as the next game, he’s nowhere near the end of an illustrious career that could culminate with 4,000 hits.
“I’ll take it one hit at a time. That’s a long way in the future,” said Jeter, who has 2,747 hits. “I’m going to play as long as I’m having fun. Right now I’m having a blast.”