Death toll in Moscow fire rises to seven, with 11 injured

The death toll in a fire that broke out late on Tuesday 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 the total death toll to seven people. Among them are two children. Eleven people were injured, nine of them were hospitalized, two people were treated on an outpatient basis," the source said.

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 to 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 intiated a criminal case over the casualties in the fire.