Russia: Fire in St Petersburg kills 1, injures 2

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - A firefighter was killed, two more injured in a big fire in a business center in Russia's second-large city of Saint Petersburg on Monday, the Emergency Ministry said.

The fire spread across an area of more than 10,000 square meters (107,639 square feet), two floors -- the fourth and fifth -- were completely engulfed with the fire, while the roof and ceilings collapsed on an area of 1,500 meters (4,921 feet), the ministry said.

The fire service assigned the highest -- fifth -- level of complexity to the fire, it added.

At least 40 people were evacuated from the business center located in a historical building of the former textile plant Nevskaya Manufactory.

According to media reports, there were serious violations of fire safety requirements in the building, among others -- absence or malfunction of automatic fire extinguishing system, fire alarm, and smoke extraction.