Officials say up to 30 people dead in fire that collapsed a Russian shopping centre

MOSCOW – Russian emergency officials say five people are confirmed dead and 25 more are missing and presumed dead after a shopping centre in the city of Kazan collapsed in a fire.

Officials said Thursday that the toll of missing is based on reports from relatives and workers in the shopping centre, 720 kilometres (450 miles) east of Moscow.

Forty people were injured in the blaze.

Regional emergency services head Igor Panshin was quoted by the Tass news agency as saying “the hope of finding survivors under the shopping centre debris has been abandoned.”

The cause of the fire that began Wednesday has not been determined.

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