A HUGE inferno tore through a warehouse in St Petersburg this morning, leaving two injured and one missing in a suspected arson attack.
The 70,000sqft blaze moved at “lightning speed” through the site that is reportedly used to to recruit migrant works for Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
East2WestOver 300 firefighters as well as helicopters were needed to battle the warehouse inferno[/caption]
ReutersA criminal investigation is underway with initial reports suggesting arson or sabotage[/caption]
East2WestIt could be seen from the window of planes heading into land in St Petersburg[/caption]
East2WestWorkers were seen running for their lives to escape the ‘lightning’ fast blaze[/caption]
There was panic as 1,000-plus staff fled from the burning building early today that belongs to one of Russia’s largest online retailers, Wildberries.
Dramatic footage showed the terror on workers faces as they ran from the rapidly spreading flames.
Loud shots are heard: “Out, everyone! Out!
“The roof is falling – out, go, go!
“Out, out! Faster!”
Nearly 300 firefighters and dozens of fire engines and helicopters were battling to put out the blaze, the Ministry of Emergency Situations said.
One man was reported missing after the fire and a man and woman were injured and required hospital treatment.
There has been no immediate comment on how the fire, which was rated as a category five (the most serious) had started in the suburb of Russia’s second city.
A criminal investigation is now underway.
However, initial reports suggest a possible arson or sabotage attack at the £27million warehouse, where many stars are migrant workers from ex-Soviet Central Asian republics.
Russian military enlistment recruiters are understood to be targeting vulnerable workers and dragooning them into military service, often under threat of being detained or sent back to their homelands for immigration violations.
Overall damage from the fire – including lost stock – is expected to top £98million.
The raging inferno, which started at 7.42am local time, dominated the skyline and was seen by passengers in planes taking off from St Petersburg airport.
Eyewitnesses said it spread at “lightning speed” in the 1,076,391sqft facility.
“In just 20 minutes…there was no warehouse,” said one.
Reports say there were at least 1,200 people in the Wildberries warehouse and chaos broke out when the main exit was closed and people had to slowly file through a small door.
BAZA news outlet reported: “A large crowd could not squeeze through the narrow doors during the fire at the marketplace warehouse.
“According to workers, they did not know where to run when the fire occurred, so they run around the warehouse in horror.
“There were so many people that they were still continuing to descend from the third floor when the fire was already approaching the first floor.”
According to employees, the fire extinguishing system did not work when the fire began to flare up on shelves with household chemicals located on the 6th floor.
At the time, there was a shift change at the huge facility.
Ukrainian Interior Ministry advisor Anton Gerashchenko posted on X/Twitter. “The fire could have broken out as a result of deliberate arson as revenge for the raids by security forces the day before.
“They were looking for illegal migrants and army evaders.”
Online customers were to be refunded for lost orders, the company said.
Recent days have seen several false fire alarms and staff initially suspected this was another false alarm.
In the last two days, police and the Russian National Guard have been carrying out raids at the warehouse.
As one such raid took place, a water pipe reportedly burst, which was also suspected as being a sabotage attack.
A “massive fight” had earlier broken out at the facility allegedly between different ethnic groups working here.
An Azerbaijani citizen, 33 and a Tajikistan national, 35, were taken to the hospital with stab wounds.
Today’s blaze was the latest in a spate of fires and explosions inside Russia in recent months as the war in Ukraine grinds deep into its second winter.
Some have been caused by Ukrainian missiles and drones, but others have been labelled as sabotage attacks, carried out by members of the burgeoning Russian resistance.
East2West‘In just 20 minutes…there was no warehouse,’ said one employee[/caption]
East2WestOver 1,000 staff were on duty this morning as the blaze tore through the facility[/caption]
East2WestOne man has been reported missing and two were taken to hospital[/caption]
ReutersThe factory is said to be used by military recruiters to coerce migrant workers into joining the army[/caption]
ReutersEmployees said the fire extinguishing system was not working[/caption]
ReutersPolice had conducted raids inside the facility in the last two days after alleged fights broke out between workers[/caption]