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| Panic as huge fire destroys vast online shopping warehouse in Russia used as location for recruiting migrant workers for Putin's war in Ukraine amid suspicions of arson |
| 2024-01-13 |
| [Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A huge fire ignited early today at a giant online shopping warehouse in St Petersburg used as a location for recruiting migrant workers for Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. There was panic as 1,000-plus staff fled the inferno at the Wildberries facility in the Shushary district. The massive blaze 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 1,076,391 square feet facility. 'In just 20 minutes…there was no warehouse,' one witness said. Videos show the terror as workers seek to exit the burning structure belonging to Wildberries, Russia's largest online market place. Wildberries said in a statement that all its staff had been evacuated. Nobody was reported to have been hurt. Nearly 300 firefighters and dozens of fire engines, as well as helicopters, were battling to put out the fire, the Ministry of Emergency Situations said. Firefighters brought the blaze under control but were still working on extinguishing it. Overall damage from the fire, which began at 7.42am local time, including lost stock could amount to £98 million, it was reported. According to employees, the fire extinguishing system did not work when the fire began to flare up on shelves holding household chemicals. Reports say there were at least 1,200 people in the warehouse, and there were frantic scenes as a main exit was closed and people were forced to file through a small door. There have been several false fire alarms over recent days and staff initially suspected this to be the case today. Arson or sabotage is suspected at the sprawling £27 million warehouse, where many staff are migrant workers from ex-Soviet Central Asian republics who military enlistment recruiters have been dragooning to the war, often under threat of being detained or sent back to their homelands for immigration violations. Police and the Russian National Guard have been carrying out raids at the warehouse over the past two days, say reports. As one raid took place, a water pipe burst in a suspected sabotage attack. A 'massive fight' broke out at the warehouse on the night of January 10 between ethnic groups working there. A 33-year-old citizen of Azerbaijan and a 35-year-old citizen of Tajikistan were taken to the hospital with stab wounds. Fire ignited on racks holding household chemicals, located on the sixth level of the warehouse. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |