Fire in Moscow building – people evacuated

Everyone thought to have been in a burning office building in the Russian capital has been evacuated, a spokeswoman for the Emergency Situations Ministry said Monday.

Photo: Fire in Moscow building – people evacuated

Irina Andrianova said firemen had rescued 10 people from the top floor of the building that houses the offices of several Russian newspapers, including popular daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, after a fire engulfed 300-400 square meters.

"Two people have been hospitalized with suspected carbon monoxide poisoning," Andrianova said. The spokeswoman said that, according to rescuers, no one else was left in the building.

She said over 50 fire crews were working at the scene to extinguish the blaze. Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu is also at the scene.

Dmitry Lysenkov, a deputy of the Tribuna newspaper's editor, said several newspapers, including Komsomolskaya Pravda, might not be published this week due to the fire, which destroyed several offices.

Ten people have been rescued from the top floor of an eight-storey office building in the Russian capital after a fire broke out in the offices of several Russian newspapers, an eyewitness said Monday.

Other people are waiting to be rescued from the building, which houses popular daily Komsomolskaya Pravda.

More than 10 people were trapped on the top floor of the building after the fire quickly spread on the sixth floor.

A source in the law enforcement bodies said the fire in downtown Moscow had been rated a category two on a five-grade scale.

The firefighters are trying to extinguish fire, but their work is complicated because of the cars parked nearby, News Agencies reported.

I.L.