News

The Chairman of the Investigative Committee has arrived on a scene in Amurskaya Street where a fire claimed lives of 8 firefighters of the Emergency Ministry’s Moscow Directorate. After examining the scene, Mr. Bastrykin talked to the chiefs of the operations center set up to investigate the fire, heard the results of initial examinations, got familiar with the plan of investigation, outlined some priority tasks to be solved and coordinated the work of the investigative team. The team was formed following the Chairman’s instruction and includes investigators and criminalists of theMoscow Office of the Investigative Committee, criminalists of the Committee’s central office, who have extensive experience in investigating fire, as well as investigators of the Committee’s Head office. For thorough investigation the case opened into safety breach (Part 3 of Article 219) has been transferred in the Major Cases Directorate of the Investigative Committee following Mr. Bastrykin’s instruction.

While on the fire scene, Mr. Bastrykin offered his condolences to the families and colleagues of the firemen killed in the line of duty. He said that an initial analysis of the firemen’s actions showed that they had prevented a much bigger trouble because there were tanks with highly flammable substances which might have blown up if the fire came any nearer.

According to investigators, on the evening of 22 September 2016, a fire broke out and consumed more than 4,000 square meters of a storehouse owned by AO Storehouses Victoria in Amurskaya Street in Moscow. 1,000 square meters of the roof collapsed. Bodies of 8 firemen were found in the debris. According to preliminary information, they were on the burning roof when it went down.

Investigators are considering different versions of the fire, including household, technical ones and others. They are going to find out whether owners of the storehouse met fire codes.

Investigators and criminalists as well as workers of emergency services keep on working on the scene. Objects necessary to run fire inquiries will be seized during the examination of the scene. The inquiries will allow finding out the exact cause of fire. Forensic experts are examining the bodies. Additionally, investigators are searching AO Storehouses Veronica in order to confiscate documents vital for the investigation. Other investigative operations are underway to find out all the details of the fire. The investigation is ongoing.

Head of Media Relations                                                                                                                   V.I. Markin