Hostel fire in Russia's eastern Siberia kills 2 Uzbek lumberjacks

firefighter

MOSCOW, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Two people died and six more were injured in a fire on early Wednesday in a hostel in eastern Siberia's Irkutsk region, Russia's emergency ministry said.

The fire broke out in a two-storey wooden hostel for logging workers in the village of Zalari, and triggered an automatic fire alarm, the ministry's Irkutsk regional office said in a statement.

When fire brigades arrived, the wooden building measuring over 300 square meters was all covered in fire, the statement said, adding that 13 people evacuated independently.

While extinguishing the fire, the firemen found two bodies who were later confirmed by authorities as Uzbeks. Five out of the six injured were taken to a local hospital. The deceased and the injured were all adults.

Currently, experts from a local fire laboratory, together with interrogators of the ministry and the Investigative Committee are working at the scene, the statement said.