Fire at sawmill in Siberian village, 11 Uzbek labourers killed

A total of 14 people — Uzbek, Tajik and Chinese nationals — lived in the building located in a village in Russia’s Siberia, which got engulfed by fire.

A fire at a sawmill in a village in Russia’s Siberia killed 11 people and injured two more this morning, emergency officials said. One person remains unaccounted for.

The fire broke out in a single storey wooden building in a village in Russia’s Siberia, used as a dormitory for sawmill workers. (Reuters (Representative image))

Ten victims were identified as Uzbek nationals and one as a Tajik.

The fire broke out in a single storey wooden building rented by an unnamed Chinese company and used as a dormitory for the sawmill workers, local authorities said. Firefighters battled the blaze for more than two hours.

A total of 14 people — Uzbek, Tajik and Chinese nationals — lived in the building. Two workers were able to get out but sustained injuries. The fate of the final occupant is unknown.

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the fire. Russian police have opened a criminal probe.

Uzbek officials said they were working on identifying the bodies and transporting them back to Uzbekistan.

Earlier this month a fire at a greenhouse farm in a Moscow suburb killed eight migrant workers from Vietnam.