Hot water pipe burst Four people die in Moscow mall
7/22/2023, 6:07 pm
Moscow’s “Vremena Goda” shopping center houses more than 500 stores and boutiques on six floors. There is also a supermarket in the basement. According to reports, a hot water pipe burst this afternoon. Several employees die.
At least four people were killed when a hot water pipe burst at a Moscow shopping center, officials said. “There are victims with burns,” Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin writes on his Telegram channel. “My condolences to family and friends. Rescuers are still on call.”
The incident took place in the shopping center “Vremena Goda” (“Seasons”) near Victory Park in the west of the Russian capital. The number of injured varies in Russian media between 50 and 70 people. Many of them had to be hospitalized with burns.
According to the Russian state news agency TASS, all the dead were employees of a supermarket located in the basement of the mall. The hot water pipe burst there, they say. Why is not yet clear. An official from the municipal power company MIPC reportedly confirmed that the pipe belongs to the mall’s heating system.
The Baza online portal, close to the Russian security services, published on Telegram a video that was allegedly taken shortly after the pipe burst. It shows a dense vapor believed to fill office space and supermarket aisles.
Russian news agency RIA Novosti also quotes an eyewitness as saying that she was going down the escalator to the mall’s basement when hot steam suddenly rose from below. After the pipe ruptured, the escalator handrails also became hot. An alarm sounded.
The six-story, 62,000 square meter mall opened in 2007. It will house more than 500 stores, warehouses and boutiques, including luxury brands from Western Europe.