Fire kills one at Moscow virus hospital construction site

MOSCOW: One person died when a fire tore through workers´ tents at the construction site of a new hospital for coronavirus patients outside Moscow, officials said on Sunday.

The cause of the blaze was not immediately known but it reportedly broke out in a tent containing a stove. An emergencies ministry spokesman told AFP the fire, which covered 90 square metres (970 square feet), broke out in workers´ accommodation at the site. "Three tents have caught fire," the spokesman said. "Unfortunately, one person died," he said, declining to give other details.

The construction site is located between the villages of Babenki and Golokhvastovo just outside Moscow. Moscow city authorities have been rushing to construct a medical facility for coronavirus patients styled on a hospital built in China in record time. More than 3,000 builders are involved in the Russian project, and some of them live on the construction site.