BSS :
Seven people died and nine were missing after a fire on Friday at an industrial explosives factory southeast of the Russian capital, the emergencies ministry said.
“Seventeen people were injured, of them seven died, one has been hospitalised and the fate of nine people remains unknown,” the ministry said in a statement. Earlier it said that the fire could have broken out as a result of “violations of the technological processes and safety measures” at the PGUP Elastic factory in the Ryazan region.
The plant in the village of Lesnoye, around 300 kilometres (180 miles) from Moscow, says on its website that it produces industrial explosives. The emergencies ministry said it first received a report that a fire had broken out at the plant at 08:22 local time.
The head of the local administration earlier told the TASS news agency that the 17 people were inside the plant’s workshop at the time of the fire.
The ministry said it had deployed more than 170 rescuers to the area.
