International News

MOSCOW, (NILLAT+APP/AFP) – Eight Russian firefighters were killed
as they battled a blaze at a warehouse in eastern Moscow, authorities said Friday, in the latest deadly fire to hit the capital.
Their bodies were discovered after contact was lost as they fought
to extinguish a huge blaze that started Thursday evening at a plastics depot, the emergency services ministry said in a statement.
“The corpses of eight colleagues have been found in the main area where the search was located,” the statement said.
“Until the end there was hope that they would be alive. But due to the intense fire, the high temperatures and the thick smoke the
firefighters were unable to get out.”
The emergency workers were among the first to arrive on the scene
and helped evacuate 100 workers from the warehouse located towards the eastern edge of the Russian capital, officials said.
They were battling flames on the roof of the building when it collapsed, the emergency services said.
“The firefighters died doing their duty like heroes,” Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Twitter.
“I send my condolences to their loved ones. The city will give all
necessary aid to the families of those who died.”
Officials said the blaze — which tore across an area of some 4,000 square metres (430,000 square feet) — was eventually extinguished at 0744 local time (0444 GMT) on Friday.
Investigators announced that they had launched a criminal probe into
possible “fire safety violations” and were conducting tests at the scene to
determine the cause of the blaze.
Firetrucks still surrounded the site on Friday morning and firefighters had set up a makeshift memorial to their dead comrades, lighting candles and placing red carnations on a table.