Seven people were killed as fire swept through a barracks for construction workers in Crimea, annexed by Russia from Ukraine.

There are fears five more victims were trapped in the fierce blaze.

More than 150 people escaped the burning structure in the early hours of the morning.

Shocking video showed the raging inferno in Sevastopol, headquarters of Vladimir Putin’s Black Sea Fleet, which is closely involved in the war against Ukraine.

An investigation is underway into the cause of the fire amid suspicions that sabotage has been behind a number of recent fires in Russia.

A recent blaze at a powerplant in St Petersburg and another at the city’s manufacturer ‘Belarus MTZ’ headquarters remain unexplained.

Seven workers were killed in this morning’s fire – reports of two injured and hospitalised from the naval port blaze which began at 2:19am.

Five were reported as missing.

The fire broke out at makeshift barracks where construction workers stayed (Picture: Emergency Ministry/east2west new)

The staff were working on the Tavrida highway to link Crimea and Russia (Picture: Social media/EAST2WEST NEWS)

A total of 185 workers were in the makeshift barracks when the inferno started.

The seven dead were building a key highway linking to the Putin-commissioned bridge which connects the Crimean peninsula to Russia.

Russian outlet Izvestia reports that a two-storey modular building to house workers on Neftyanaya Street was completely destroyed.

The Tavrida highway was officially opened in 2020 by Putin but is currently being extended.

In October, a key strategic bridge linking Crimea to Russia was partially destroyed following a huge explosion.

Russian investigators said three people were killed when a ‘truck bomb’ blew up and blamed a Ukrainian ‘terrorist action’.

Moscow had boasted the bridge – a prestigious symbol of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula in 2014 and opened by Vladimir Putin four years later – was protected with a maximum-security operation.

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Video showed the raging inferno in Sevastopol, headquarters of Vladimir Putin’s Black Sea Fleet.