Seven people have reportedly been killed after a major fire broke out at a key Russian defense research institute in Tver, northwest of Moscow.
Local authorities said 25 people were also injured in Thursday’s fire, the TASS news agency reported, citing emergency services, and that at least 10 people were missing.
The death toll was originally estimated at five, but Tass said it has risen to seven.
“We are confirming a death toll of seven at the moment,” Tass quoted the source as saying. It added that the death toll could rise.
Firefighters hose down the burning building of the Central Research Institute of the Aerospace Defense Forces in the Russian city of Tver. Photo: Vitaliy Smolnikov/APThe fire broke out in an administrative building of the Aerospace Defense Forces Central Research Institute, which reports to the Russian Defense Ministry. It quickly engulfed the top three stories of the building, forcing residents to jump out of windows and collapsing the roof.
Photos of the main building showed that it had burned down completely. Video footage from the scene, which is about 160 km (100 miles) northwest of Moscow, showed thick smoke and flames billowing from the institute’s windows.
The incident was followed hours later by unconfirmed reports of a fire at one of Russia’s largest chemical plants.
Images on social media are said to show a major fire at the Dmitrievsky chemical plant in Kinsehma, about 400 km northeast of Moscow.
They showed plumes of smoke from the plant, which its website describes as the largest producer of butyl acetate and industrial solvents in Russia and Eastern Europe.
There was no official cause for either fire.
According to initial reports, regional military prosecutors were investigating the cause of the fire in Tver. State news agency Tass said initial findings suggested wiring was a contributing factor.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry website, the Defense Institute is engaged in aerospace research, including a unified air defense system for the CIS bloc of former Soviet republics.