MOSCOW, April 21 (RIA Novosti) - Arson could have caused a fire that left two people dead and seven injured early Friday at a Moscow University dormitory in a Stalin-era skyscraper, an emergencies source said.
"An initial examination showed that the fire started in two places," the source said. "One of them was in a hall. It might be a sign of arson."
Emergency services officials said earlier that about 600 people had been evacuated from the building after the fire broke out on the 12th floor of the 26-story building, with four of the seven injured hospitalized.
Prosecutors said they had opened a criminal case into the incident.
The Emergency Situations Ministry said earlier this week that about 6,000 people, including 208 children, had died in fires in Russia during the first three months of 2006, which means the average daily death toll is 66.
