Six people have died, including two children, after a fire broke out in a multi-storey building in central Moscow. It was announced by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations on Tuesday night.
In the event, nine people were injured and some 200 were evacuated from the building, which houses a hotel, as explained by the same ministry on Telegram.
The fire was extinguished shortly before midnight local time and a room-by-room inspection was carried out.
Russia's Investigative Committee said on Telegram that they had opened a criminal case over the cause of the fire, which broke out on the fifth floor of the building.
The 41-year-old building in Moscow's Tagansky district houses the MKM hotel on the lower floors, as well as apartments converted from a previous hostel on the upper floors, Russian agencies reported.
Russia's TASS agency reported, citing an anonymous emergency services official, that the preliminary cause was arson.
