MOSCOW, September 11 (RIA Novosti) – Ten people died on Tuesday as a fire swept through a building in a town near Moscow, emergency services said.
“The dead are all thought to be Vietnamese nationals,” an emergency services spokesperson said.
The fire broke out on the second floor of the building, on the premises of a clothing firm.
Low-paid migrant workers are frequently the victims of blazes in Russia. Many work in poor conditions, often illegally.
Seventeen migrant workers from the impoverished former Soviet republic of Tajikistan died at a Moscow market earlier this year when their makeshift living quarters went up in flames. Emergency officials said the blaze had begun after a heater malfunctioned
Russia has an appalling fire safety record. Some 12,000 people died in fires across the country in 2011, according to emergencies ministry figures. The United States, with a population over twice as large, saw around five times fewer fire-related fatalities.
According to Fire Safe Europe information, about 12 people die in fires in Europe every day, or some 4,400 annually.
Fire safety came into the spotlight in Russia in recent years after a number of high-profile blazes. Over 150 people were killed in a fire at a nightclub in the Urals in December 2009.