(Reuters) – At least seven people died in a fire in Crimea after flames ripped through temporary accommodation housing construction workers, Russian-installed officials said on Thursday morning.
Citing local law enforcement agencies, the state-run TASS news agency said the fire, which broke out overnight on the outskirts of the city of Sevastopol, was the result of an electrical appliance short-circuiting.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Kyiv has said it plans to retake it by force.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-appointed governor, said the fire had broken out in a two-storey dormitory housing construction workers for the Tavrida highway, a new road linking the Crimean cities of Sevastopol and Simferopol.
At the time of the fire, 185 people were inside the small two-storey building, the RIA news agency reported, citing the local emergency services.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said it had opened an investigation into the cause of the blaze and that investigators were working on the site.
The fire had been put out by Thursday morning, Razvozhayev said in a post on his Telegram channel.
Two workers were also reported to have been hospitalised.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
