A fire at a Moscow hostel has claimed the lives of eight guests from foreign countries and injured four others, news agencies reported early Friday.
The flames broke out on the first floor of the building in southwestern Moscow due to likely equipment failure or a power grid emergency, the state-run TASS news agency cited an unnamed emergency services source as saying.
Two-hundred people reportedly evacuated from the apartment block, while eight guests of the ground-floor hostel died and four were hospitalized after jumping off the top floors of the several-story building.
Security bars on windows and a blocked emergency exit are believed to have prevented the victims from evacuating to safety, TASS reported, citing unnamed sources. Hostel owners may have also had deactivated a fire alarm.
Authorities believe the victims died from smoke inhalation.
The victims are believed to be migrants from unspecified countries, TASS quoted an unnamed source as saying.
Authorities opened a criminal case into safety violations that led to deaths.
Accidental fires are common in Russia, where hundreds of blazes are recorded each year due to aging and dilapidated infrastructure and non-compliance with safety standards that are often lax.
Source https://www.globalcourant.com/8-foreigners-dead-in-moscow-hostel-fire/?feed_id=3677&_unique_id=62e3712f6f73b
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