MOSCOW, September 23. /TASS/. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has conveyed his condolences to the families of the firefighters who died while battling a raging blaze at a warehouse in eastern Moscow on Thursday night.
"Yesterday, while reporting to me about the fire, you expressed some apprehension that it may turn out to be a tragedy because your colleagues, the emergencies ministry’s personnel, could die," Putin said at a meeting with the Minister of Emergency Situations Vladimir Puchkov.
"I would like to express my condolences to the families of your departed colleagues, and I would like your staff to do everything they can to support them," the president said. "I am sure that you will do it," he added.
Putin pointed out that "timely detection of the breaches in safety regulations, including fire safety, and a timely response to these violations, should help reduce the number of such tragedies and the number of this kind of emergencies in general."
A four-alarm fire broke out on Thursday night at a warehouse in eastern Moscow, taking around 14 hours for the blaze to be extinguished. The fire scorched an area at 4,000 square meters, while the amount of rubble came to 1,500 square meters.
Over 50 fire engines and more than 300 personnel from the emergencies ministry were involved in battling the inferno. The blaze claimed the life of eight firefighters who had prevented the explosion of 30 gas cylinders and an ammonia leak.