Several die in fire at unlicensed hostel near Moscow: State media

A fire broke out at an unlicensed migrant hostel in Moscow’s eastern suburbs early Tuesday, killing four people believed to be Cuban nationals, Russian state media reported.

“Early in the morning of January 27, emergency services received reports of a fire at a private residence in the town of Balashikha,” the Moscow region’s investigative committee said in a statement.

“After the fire was extinguished, the bodies of two men and two women were found.

A 15-year-old teenager with signs of carbon monoxide poisoning was also hospitalized,” it said.

Deadly fires are common in Russia, especially in older buildings that lack fire alarms and are not built to modern architectural standards.

The building may have been used as an unlicensed hostel, a source told the TASS news agency reported.

The dead were Cuban citizens, the agency added.Hundreds of thousands of foreigners — many without legal status — are thought to live in Russia, some of whom live in migrant hostels that operate illegally.

A fire at a migrant hostel in a suburb northwest of Moscow killed eight people in May 2024.