Twenty people were burnt alive on Monday in a fire that continued to rage through a shopping centre in Ukhta town in Komi republic in northern Russia, the police said.
Many shoppers and salespersons sustained burn injuries in the blaze in the shopping centre, which was probably caused by the explosion of a gas cylinder as no traces of explosive materials have been found so far, the police said.
Thirty people were rescued from the double-storey brick building of the Passage shopping centre, RIA Novosti news
agency quoted an official of the Emergency Situations Ministry as saying.
An unidentified man hurled a Molotov cocktail into a crowd in the shop, starting the fire, Itar Tass news agency reported quoting a law enforcement agency of the Republic of Komi.
Firefighters were struggling to douse the fire as highly combustible plastic was widely used in the decor of the shopping centre.
Confirming the death toll, Viktor Beltsov, the spokesman of the Emergency Situations Ministry, said the blast rocked the two-storey building at 3.28 pm.
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