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Russia shopping mall owned by Azerbaijani businessman hit by fire, 4 dead, 36 injured

12 March 2015 09:24 (UTC +04:00)

14 of the injured were hospitalized; another 4 were recovered from under the ruins.

Head of the department for propaganda and public relations of Tatarstan’s Ministry for Emergency Situations, Andrey Rodygin, said 15 people are believed to be trapped under the ruins.

A total of 100 fire-fighting vehicles and 425 firemen and rescuers were deployed to the area. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations said the fire was caused by an electro-technical failure.

The owner of the shopping center, Huseyn Gahramanov said in his statement to LifeNews that before the accident he had been threatened with the burning of his mall, and that he therefore tightened security measures in the mall and even his relative helped do that.

According to Gahramanov, the casualties would have been prevented if the victims had not attempted to evacuate their goods.

Note that, the blaze has covered an area of 12,000 square meters.