Second Russian shopping mall near Moscow goes up in flames
12 December 2022, 20:45
A second Russian shopping mall has gone up in flames on the outskirts of Moscow.
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The blaze in Balashikha, at a mall which trades in construction items and home decoration materials, first erupted in a storage area and then spread through the building.
Pictures published on Telegram by Russia's emergencies ministry showed that the fire had caused part of the roof to collapse, with smoke billowing into the air.
A guard was taken to hospital after inhaling toxic fumes from the fire.
Fire crews managed to contain it to an area of about 97,000 square feet (9,000 square metres) and prevent it from engulfing the entire complex.
One Telegram channel asked: "Fires at Russian shopping centres seem to be breaking out really often these days. Are these sabotage…or?"
Officials said the blaze was caused by a short circuit that came amid heavy rain in Moscow.
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It comes after a similar fire ripped through a huge OBI construction materials store on Friday - part of the Mega shopping mall in Khimki on the Russian capital's north-western outskirts.
It reached 18,000 square metres at one point, with later explosions thought to have been caused by igniting aerosols and and tins of paint.
Officials said the blaze, in which a security guard was killed, was sparked by welding that apparently violated safety regulations.
