Up to five children are missing.
About 100 children between six and 16, most of them with mobility problems, were sleeping in the Chorbog (Four Gardens) children's home in the centre of the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, in the impoverished Central Asian state.
The home’s security guard, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, "The fire spread so quickly that I didn't manage to use the internal phone...
I stopped a passer-by and we called the fire brigade on his mobile phone."
When fire rescue trucks came, "some of them didn't have enough water," he added.
Locals braved the fire to find and carry out the disabled children, many wearing only nightclothes, in the freezing night.
“It was terrible. It was dark and we had to run through the rooms looking for children. I managed to get six children aged between six and eight out," said Martin, 27, a security guard who
was on duty nearby.
“We had to take them out in our arms... There were awful screams," he added.
Zebuniso Sharipova, a local resident, said it took the brigade about two-and-a-half hours to put out the flames.
"We took children out in what they were wearing. They only had light clothes. We wrapped them in blankets and took them to the nearest house," she said.
Two residents were hospitalised after their rescue and 77 others were found temporary lodgings elsewhere in the city.
Tajikistan's Health Minister Nasratullo Faizulloyev said the evacuated children were receiving psychological care.
Most of the children in the building had had been abandoned by their parents.
Criminal Investigation
Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov expressed his condolences and called for an inquiry, as officials announced a criminal investigation had been opened.
The head of Tajikistan's fire service said the blaze was caused by an overloading of the electrical system of the one-storey building.
Its management was already being investigated for not following fire safety regulations.
Other officials speculated that the electrical system may have short-circuited because of multiple electrical heaters used in the home, which did not have central heating.
Investigators sifted through the rubble including burnt mattresses and children's metal beds, collecting human remains in cellophane bags.
The building’s wooden roof had collapsed and only charred brick walls were left standing.
Blame Game
Social welfare experts accused the government of neglect, saying the fire reflected poor conditions in children's homes and inadequate spending.
They also criticised parents who abandoned their disabled infants.
"Children in these homes live in terrifying conditions. The state is only spending 30 cents a day on them," said Khushnod Rakhmatullayev, who works with children and has conducted research across the country.
"The administration of the children's homes should take care of the children but often they are indifferent...
And parents who are well-off should not give away their children," Rakhmatullayev said.