Fatal inferno hits Moscow shopping mall leaving one person dead

A fatal inferno swept through one of the largest shopping malls near Moscow in the early hours of this morning, leaving one person dead. The massive blaze, which spread to the size of a football pitch, ripped through the Mega shopping center in Khimki near the Russian capital.

The fire led to the collapse of part of the shopping mall, which complicated firefighters’ efforts to douse the flames. One person, identified by local media as Sergey Smurov, was killed in the blaze after he was trapped inside an annex within the mall.  

Footage from the scene showed flames lighting up the sky and dark smoke billowing into the air, as scores of people fled the burning building into a parking lot.  

More than 70 firefighters and 20 fire trucks were working to put out the fire, which spread over 7,000 square meters (75,300 square feet), emergency services said, adding that their work was hampered due to the design of the building. 

‘Due to the collapse of the roof, the fire spread instantly to a large area,’ the Moscow region’s emergency services said on Telegram. Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said it was looking into the cause of the fire.  

The head of the Moscow region’s emergency services agency said it appeared the blaze was the result of safety regulations being violated during repair work on the building. Sources told local media that the fire had started in the home improvement OBI outlet, a German-based chain which closed soon after the war broke out in Ukraine.  

A local man said: ‘Everything started burning from the roof, I do not know exactly where the ignition came from. The fire developed very quickly. Literally five minutes later, the entire roof was already caught in flames.’ 

‘And after ten minutes everything developed rapidly, the lower floor was already ablaze,’ he added. Mega had been home to a large number of Western retail chains before the companies’ departure from Russia in the wake of the Ukraine conflict, including one of the first IKEA stores in the Moscow area.  

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