Rupture of hot water pipe at Russian shopping mall leaves 4 dead

Moscow, Jul 22 (EFE).- Four people were killed Saturday when a hot water pipe burst at a shopping center in the Russian capital, the city’s mayor said.

Authorities said initially that one person died, but first responders discovered three additional bodies after evacuating the Vremena Goda (Seasons) mall on Moscow’s west side.

“The tragedy in the shopping center has claimed the lives of three more people. My condolences to their families and friends,” Mayor Sergey Sobyanin wrote on Telegram.

The fatalities were employees of a hypermarket on the mall’s ground floor, according to authorities.

The number of injured remained unknown as first responders searched for a person trapped on the second floor of the center, which has more than 150 stores.

No information was available on what caused the pipe to burst.

One employee of the hypermarket said that the order to evacuate came only after she informed security guards about the ruptured pipe and that one of her co-workers suffered a heart attack as a result of the accident.

Vremena Goda is located opposite Victory Park on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, one of Moscow’s main avenues. EFE mos/dr