A deadly fire in Russia on Thursday destroyed the building of a top-secret military research institute working to develop Russia’s latest ballistic missiles.
A fire at the Central Research Institute of the Air and Space Defense Forces in the city of Tver, between Moscow and St. Petersburg, broke out in a wooden outbuilding and engulfed the four-story building.
At least five people were killed and 30 injured in a fire that engulfed the city center in black smoke and raged for hours, Russian news agencies reported, citing unnamed officials.
Several people were spotted jumping out of the windows. The roof collapsed and the building continued to smolder until late in the evening after firefighters sent a helicopter to deal with the blaze.
It was not immediately clear what was stored in the building to cause such a raging fire. Authorities did not immediately state the reason, but Tass quoted an unnamed official as suggesting that old electrical cables caught fire in a locked office on the second floor.
The research institute was founded in Soviet Crimea in the 1930s to serve in the Red Army and develop missile defense systems. In recent years, its scientists have developed some of Russia’s most advanced weapons, including Iskander short-range ballistic missiles and Su-27 and Tu-160 stealth jets.
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