DUSHANBE, January 14, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Seven people died on Tuesday when a fire broke out at an underground garage in Moscow.

According to Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations, seven people died and two were rescued.  The victims were labor migrants from Tajikistan who lived in a room with plastic-paneled walls.

Itar-Tass quoted Russian emergencies official Yevgeny Bobylyov as saying, “The workers were trying to deal with the fire on their own, without calling fire brigades.  A total of 20 people have been rescued from the building.”  They made an alarm call later and the fire brigades extinguished the blaze in one hour, he said.

According to Saidmukhtor Mirzoyev, deputy chief of the Tajik Interior Ministry representative office in Russia, seven Tajik nationals that died in the garage fire were identified as Jamoliddin Boboyev (1987), Saidjon Mousoyev (1989) and Sangali Nazarov (1986) from the Vahdat district, Sohib Mirzosharifov (1989), Farhod Kulov (1986) and Aminjon Bangiyev (1989) from Khatlon’s Jomi district , as well as Jamshed Soliyev (1988) from the Roudaki district.