The massive blaze in St Petersburg, Russia, could be seen from miles around (Picture: East2West News)
A huge inferno at an online shopping warehouse forced more than 1,000 workers to flee for their lives.
The giant building which belongs to Russia’s largest online market place Wildberries, caught fire in St Petersburg, Russia, at 7.42am this morning, and there has been no reports of any injuries.
More than 400 rescuers and 89 pieces of special equipment were deployed on site and online customers will be refunded with lost orders.
The plumes of smoke were so large that people taking off from the city’s international airport could see the blaze.
Eyewitnesses said it spread at ‘lightning speed’ at the facility which employs migrant workers for Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
BAZA news outlet reported: ‘A large crowd could not squeeze through the narrow doors during the fire at the marketplace warehouse.
‘According to workers, they did not know where to run when the fire occurred, so they run around the warehouse in horror.
‘There were so many people that they were still continuing to descend from the third floor when the fire was already approaching the first floor.’
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Around 1,000 workers were forced to flee for their lives (Picture: social media; e2w news)
Wildberries is Russia’s largest online market place (Picture: Emergency Service)
Smoke seen rising from the warehouse following the blaze (Picture: Reuters)
The fire extinguishers did not work and staff thought it was a false alarm at first due to several others over the last few days.
An investigation is now underway and sabotage or arson is believed to be the cause.
Police and the Russian National Guard have been carrying out raids at the warehouse over the past two days.
As a raid took place a sabotage is believed to have happened after a water pipe burst.
A fight also broke out between workers and a 33-year-old from Azerbaijan and a 35-year-old from Tajikistan were taken to hospital with stab wounds.
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It is the latest in a spate of fires and explosions during Putin’s war with Ukraine.
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A massive fire near Moscow destroyed a plant that supplies body armour for Putin’s troops.
Video footage showed flames engulfing the plant on Entuziastov Avenue, Obukhovo, in the Moscow region, and no casualties were reported.
Law enforcement in Russia is investigating whether the inferno was caused by an act of sabotage or arson.
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Around 1,000 workers fled for their lives.