Moscow: A blast ripped through a five-storey shopping center in the southwestern Russian city of Ufa on Saturday, starting a fire that killed two people and injured five.
Shoppers were evacuated and firefighting teams tackled the blaze at the huge complex, which houses stores, restaurants and night clubs in the largest city in Russia’s Bashkiria region, which has a large Muslim population.
The bodies of two people were found after firefighters searched the building.
“One is a man whose identity is being determined. Earlier the body of a girl was found, Maksim Rodionov, a spokesman for the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs, told a foreign news agency.
Five people were injured in the fire, three of whom were hospitalized, Oleg Zugeyev, spokesman of the regional Emergencies Ministry, told a news agency.
The cause of the blast was not immediately clear, but Zugeyev said the fire was believed to have started in a room reserved for smoking water-pipes located on the third floor.
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