Azerbaijan’s Emergency Situations Ministry received a call about a fire in a residential building in the Binagadi district today. Professionals and equipment of the fire protection service of the ministry were immediately sent to the scene, according to the ministry.
Azerbaijani Interior Minister Ramil Usubov, Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov and the deputy Prosecutor General Rustam Usubov were at the scene, Trend reports.
According to the last data, the death toll in the fire has reached 16. The head of the Forensic Medical Examination and Pathological Anatomy Union of the Azerbaijani Health Ministry, Shakir Musayev, said that 11 out of 16 people killed as a result of the fire outbreak in the multi-storey building in Baku have been identified: Omer Javadov (1.5), Nazile Kerimova (39), Ayan Kerimova (5), Aykhan Huseynov (2), Fereh Meherremova (3), Sahib Baghirov (46), Firengiz Baghirova (60), Zulfiyya Shirinova (43), Yashar Necefzade (27), Davud Eyvazov (16), Ulker Eyvazova (21).
A criminal case has been initiated in the Investigative Department on Grave Crimes of the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan into the fire on Articles 225.2 (violation of fire safety rules), 308.2 (abuse of power) and 314.2 (negligence) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.
The President of Azerbaijan has signed an order to establish a State Commission to investigate the causes of the fire in the high-rise building in Baku’s Binagadi district. Under the order, the Chairman of the Commission is the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Abid Sharifov. The composition of the State Commission is as follows: the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ramil Usubov, the Minister of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Kemaleddin Heydarov, the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Zakir Garalov, the Minister of National Security of Azerbaijan, Eldar Mahmudov, the Minister of Health of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ogtay Shiraliyev, the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Samir Sharifov, the Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Salim Muslimov, the Head of the Baku Mayor’s Office, Hajibala Abutalibov.
The Prosecutor General’s Office, the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Emergency Situations are taking urgent measures to investigate the causes of the fire outbreak and to identify and bring the perpetrators to justice.
The suspect is the head of Global Construction, Miryusif Mahmudov, who is accused of using low-quality cladding materials during the cladding of the building.
“The commission will determine whether the cause of the fire was due to flammable cladding materials, then a decision will be made about disassembling them or replacing them with non-combustible materials,” the head of the Baku Mayor's Office, Hajibala Abutalibov, said.
