Eight killed in fire at migrant hostel near Moscow

MOSCOW (AFP) - At least eight people were killed when an illegal hostel housing migrants burned down in a village near Moscow on Thursday, officials said.

Fire broke out at the two-storey residential building in the Istrinsky district, northwest of the Russian capital, around 4.00 am (0100 GMT), according to prosecutors. Rescuers said two occupants escaped but that eight bodies were found in the home, which is on the edge of a holiday village.

"According to investigators, a 23-year-old man rented the house, which was subsequently let out to foreign citizens not registered in Russia," prosecutors said. Firefighters could be seen observing the smouldering wreckage in the morning, as sections of wall crumbled, video showed.

Prosecutors ruled out gas as a potential cause of the blaze. Deadly fires are common in Russia, which has for years suffered from lax safety standards and struggled to modernise older housing with alarms and firefighting equipment.

Hundreds of thousands of foreigners without legal status are thought to live in Russia, despite official attempts to crack down on illegal migration.