Hotel fire in Moscow kills seven

The death toll in a fire that broke out late on February 21 in a building in downtown Moscow, housing a hotel and apartments, has risen to seven people, with 11 more injured, the emergency services said.

"One person died in hospital, amounting to the total death toll of seven people. Among them are two children. Eleven people were injured, nine of them were hospitalized, and two people were treated on an outpatient basis," the source said, according to Vestnik Kavkaza.

The fire in a 16-story building on Moscow’s Mezhdunarodnaya street broke out on Tuesday night, according to preliminary data, as a result of arson. There is a hotel on the first to the fourth floors. Above that is a former dormitory that has been turned over into housing. The fire erupted in the part of the building where the apartments are located.

Firefighters rescued 50 people and evacuated 200. The Russian Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case over the casualties in the fire.