Eight Vietnamese Migrant Workers Die In Fire Near Moscow

Emergency personnel work at the site of the fire in the village of Nesterovo outside Moscow on January 7.

Eight labor migrants from Vietnam have been killed by a fire at a farm in the Moscow region.

Initial Russian media reports on January 7 quoted officials from the Emergency Situations Ministry as saying the victims were from Tajikistan.

But authorities at Tajikistan's embassy in Moscow told RFE/RL that their representatives sent to the scene of the fire determined that all of those killed in the blaze were Vietnamese.

A ninth migrant worker also was injured by the fire at the structure where the workers were living. The injured man's citizenship was not disclosed.

The early morning fire was at the village of Nesterovo in the Ramensky district of the Moscow region. The ministry said the blaze was extinguished by firefighters at about 6 a.m.

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

With reporting by Interfax, TASS, and RIA Novosti