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Chief investigator says firefighters sacrificed lives to prevent catastrophe in Moscow

The head of Investigative Committee offered his condolences to the families and colleagues of the firefighters killed in the blaze

© Artiom Korotaev/TASS

MOSCOW, September 23. /TASS/. Russian Investigative Committee’s Head Aleksander Bastrykin stated that after arriving at the scene of the blaze in eastern Moscow, the firefighters had prevented a large-scale catastrophe by paying with their lives, the committee’s spokesman told TASS on Friday.

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Putin sends condolences to families of firefighters who died battling Moscow blaze

"Aleksander Bastrykin noted that the preliminary analysis of firefighters’ actions at the scene showed that they had prevented a huge disaster but lost their lives since the warehouse had cylinders containing flammable substances," Vladimir Markin said.

The head of Investigative Committee offered his condolences to the families and colleagues of the firefighters killed in the blaze.

On Thursday night, a large fire broke out in a plastic goods’ storage complex on Moscow’s east side, covering an area of 4,000 square meters. The warehouse inferno was extinguished 14 hours later with the help of 300 firefighters and 50 firefighting vehicles.

Eight rescuers died in the blaze, giving their lives to prevent an explosion of 30 cylinders with household gas and an ammonia leak. Earlier reports said the men were on the roof of the burning building when it collapsed.

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