By: E&P Staff (AP) A fire burned Monday through a building in central Moscow that's home to several Russian newspapers, news agencies report.
A
story attributed to The Associated Press on the Web site of an ABC affiliate in Minneapolis/St. Paul said the smoke and flames caused several people to jump or fall from the building's upper windows. "At least nine people are dead and 15 are injured," the report stated.
Other reports said just two people were hospitalized with suspected carbon monoxide poisoning, while firefighters were said to have rescued another 10 people from the top floor of the building.
Initial reports said that all the people who had been inside the building when the fire broke out were believed to have been evacuated, a report now called into question.
The building is home to the popular daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, which has offices on the sixth floor.
A Bulgarian news agency is
reporting that "most of the newspapers published in the building will most likely fail to come out in the following week, because their archives and material base have been completely destroyed. The federal mass communications agency has offered to help the 'Komsomolskaya Pravda' crew with rooms and equipment. The newspaper promises to come out on Tuesday but in limited format and circulation.
"The paper's unique archive, collected since the 1930s, has been completely destroyed. Unofficial reports state that the cause of the fire is probably a short-circuit in an electrical panel near the photography lab."
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