Fire kills 13 at bar in Russian city of Kostroma

 A fire Saturday killed at least 13 people at a restaurant and bar housed in a warehouse in the Russian city of Kostroma, local authorities said.

“According to preliminary information, 13 people fell victim to the fire,” local governor Sergei Sitnikov said on Telegram.

Russian news agencies reported that 250 people were evacuated from the building when it caught fire at night in the city around 300 kilometres (180 miles) northeast of Moscow.

Sitnikov said that the blaze at the restaurant, called Poligon, was put out at around 07:30 am (0430 GMT).

Injuries

At least five other people were injured, he said, but they did not need to be hospitalised.

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Local emergency services said they received reports of the fire in Kostroma at around 02:00 am, and that the blaze had spread out over 3,500 square meters.

On its website, Poligon describes itself as a typical Russian “stolovaya” — a casual restaurant that serves traditional food and is popular with workers.

It says it is housed in a “distribution centre” and is popular with traffic police.

State television showed images of dozens of emergency workers fighting a huge fire that engulfed the one-story building.

The sign “Poligon” was visible amid the flames raging on its roof. 

One fire fighter told regional state television that it took 50 people to extinguish the fire and that they had used 20 fire engines. 

He said the fire was especially difficult to put out because of the risk of the building collapsing. 

Kostroma, a city on the Volga river of around 230,000 people, is one of Russia’s oldest cities and is famous for its medieval architecture and monasteries.

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