Eight people were killed in a fire at a high-rise office building in western Russia, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Monday.
The fire broke out at about 2:39 p.m. Moscow time (7:39 a.m. Eastern Time) in an office building in Fryazino, about 16 miles northeast of Moscow. According to TASS:.fire Reportedly The fire spread to about 5,000 square metres (more than 53,800 square feet) and engulfed the top four floors of the building, requiring more than 130 firefighters and 50 vehicles, including a helicopter.
“Two people died after jumping from a window,” a spokesman for local emergency services was quoted as saying by TASS. “Six people remained inside the building, whose internal structure collapsed. According to preliminary data, they have died,” he was quoted as saying.
The spokesman added that of the nine people who were in the building when the fire started, only one was rescued.
“The fire is being difficult to extinguish due to the presence of gas-air mixture cylinders inside the building. Firefighters are continuing their efforts to put out the blaze,” the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry's press service told TASS. (Related: Video shows aftermath of factory explosion that killed at least 22)
A fire has hit a factory building in the Moscow Region, with thick smoke coming from the building, a TASS correspondent reported.
Video: Sergey Savostyanov/TASS pic.twitter.com/qJmJCCrxGA
— TASS (@tassagency_en) June 24, 2024
According to reports, Moscow Oblast Governor Andrei Vorobyov identified the building as home to the Platan Institute. Several Russian Telegram outlets have echoed Newsweek's report. reportThe lab manufactured electronic equipment, the Kyiv Independent reported. reportThe equipment is used for military purposes and the laboratory has been under US sanctions since June 2022, four months after Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. according to The Moscow Times.
“A fire has engulfed one of Russia's main defense electronics manufacturing and research centers, NII Platan near Moscow, trapping employees inside,” said Yaroslav Trofimov, chief foreign affairs correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. Post to Twitter.
“According to Platan's archived website, the parts are used in all Russian fighter jets, nuclear launchers, S-400 air defense systems and various guided missiles,” Trofimov added, sharing both a video of the incident and screenshots of what appears to be documents or web pages.
“The equipment developed by the Platan Institute is still used in the most important systems of the military, missiles, aviation, instrumentation and radioelectronics industries,” a partial translation of the screenshot reads.
“[…] The translation also states that “30 invention patents have been obtained in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and other countries around the world.”
Can Putin no longer protect Russian speakers in Russia's defense industry?
So what about the “ethnic Russians” in the Moscow region? pic.twitter.com/3ISLeEVaYY
— Jay in Kyiv (@JayinKyiv) June 24, 2024
But Russian state company Ruselectronics denied that the building belonged to the institute or served Russia's defense industry, claiming it was privatized in the 1990s, TASS reported.
Emergency officials were quoted as telling TASS that most of the office space in the building is rented and that is where the fire may have started.
Nearby businesses were operating as usual, according to TASS.
Russian authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the incident, according to TASS.
