A fire in a Moscow hostel has killed eight people after bars on windows stopped those inside from escaping the blaze.
Authorities said the fire broke out late at night in the hostel, which was inside a multi-storey apartment building in the Russian capital's far south-east.
The cause has not been determined.
About 200 people who lived in the building fled the fire and four people were admitted to hospital.
The Emergencies Ministry said bars on the windows of the first-floor hostel prevented occupants from escaping.
The Moscow city council's safety committee chairman Kirill Shitov said he had previously reported safety violations at the hostel to authorities but no action had been taken.
Hostels are common in Moscow for workers in low-paid jobs, particularly immigrants from former Soviet Central Asian countries.
State news agency RIA-Novosti said five of the fire victims were from Central Asia.
ABC/AP
