(Reuters) – Russia has opened a criminal investigation into fire safety after six people died and more than 20 were injured in a blaze at a defence research institute on Thursday, the TASS news agency cited a source as saying on Friday.
“Military investigators will look into the case,” TASS quoted a law enforcement source as saying, who cited an article of Russia’s criminal code on violating fire safety requirements and causing death by negligence.
The fire broke out late morning in the Russian city of Tver about 160 km (100 miles) northwest of Moscow on Thursday, killing six, injuring 24 and requiring the evacuation of around 100 people, TASS reported.
An electrical fault caused the fire, Interfax reported on Friday. The local government of the Tver region said the blaze had been extinguished at 0433 GMT on Friday. It said 13 people had been hospitalised.
Footage from the scene circulating on Russian social media showed thick smoke and flames billowing from the institute’s windows. Still images taken late on Thursday evening showed the charred husk of a four-storey building with blackened holes where windows had previously been.
Regional authorities said firefighters had prevented the blaze, which covered 2,500 square metres, from spreading to neighbouring buildings and houses.
The institute is engaged in aerospace research, including on a unified air defence system for the CIS bloc of former Soviet republics, according to the Russian defence ministry’s website.
(Reporting by Reuters, Editing by Louise Heavens)
