The cause of the blaze, which has consumed around 1,500 square meters, is still unknown
© Sputnik / Aleksey Filippov
A major fire broke out at the Izvestia Hall building on Pushkin Square in Moscow at around 5 am on Thursday, according to local media. Multiple fire brigades are at the scene.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, but at least one person has reportedly gone missing – colleagues are unable to contact him and fear he could be trapped inside.
The fire started in the building’s inner courtyard and quickly spread, with the nearby Residence bar and Lookin Rooms nightclub completely destroyed, according to media reports. The blaze has not been contained, with flames continuing to rip through the landmark structure.
Source: The Ministry of Emergency Situations
Three out of four lanes along Tverskaya Street leading to the Garden Ring and one lane out of four along Bolshoy Putinkovsky Lane have been closed to traffic.
Some 70 potentially dangerous gas cylinders are believed to be stored inside the building and could explode if the fire reaches them, sources say.
Izvestia Hall is a popular event venue, a ten-minute walk from the Kremlin. Constructed between 1925 and 1927, it contained the printing house and editorial office of “Izvestia” for nearly 85 years, until the newspaper moved to a new site in 2011. The reconstruction of the historical part of the building was completed in 2018.