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Short circuit cause of fire at Ostankino broadcasting center in Moscow

EMERCOM made public the results of the investigation
Photo ITAR-TASS/Artyom Geodakyan
Photo ITAR-TASS/Artyom Geodakyan

MOSCOW, August (Itar-Tass) - Tuesday’s fire at the Ostankino TV broadcasting center in Moscow was caused by short circuit, Yuri Deshevykh, the director of the supervisory department at the Ministry for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense /EMERCOM/ told reporters Thursday.

“Results of an expert study show the blaze was sparked off by a short circuit of electric cables,” he said.

Deshevykh said that EMERCOM does not plan to open a criminal case in connection with the fire.

“There’ll be no criminal case as the cause has been established, no one died or was injured in the course of the fire and the damage inflicted by the flames is minimal,” he said.

A fire has started at the Ostankino television centre on Tuesday night, July 30. It started on the sixth floor of the TV broadcasting centre in Akademika Koroleva Street. Broadcasting of the Public Television of Russia (OTR) has been suspended for some time because of the incident, however, the TV channel has shortly resumed its transmissions. The fire spread to an area of about 150 square metres.

Estimated fire losses are 120,000 rubles. According to head of Ostankino broadcasting center press service Denis Nazarov, the named sum mostly concerns repair works. The two-level room, the so-called paint shop, where the scenery for filming TV shows is stored, as well as rooms near it will be repaired. “This means wall painting and floor coating replacement. We will try to finish everything as soon as possible,” Nazarov said adding that neither the repair nor the fire will not affect the broadcasting.