MOSCOW, February 12 (RIA Novosti) - At least seven workers were killed when a fire broke out in their makeshift living quarters on a building site in northwest Russia's Komi Republic early on Tuesday, the emergencies ministry said.

The fire broke out at about 3:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. GMT) on a site being developed by a private building company in the town of Usinsk. The blaze engulfed a sheet-metal shed covering 18 square meters.

"Seven workers from Samara (on the Volga) were killed in the fire," Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov said.

Two firefighting units worked for about two hours to extinguish the flames.

Preliminary reports said eight workers were in the shed at the time of the fire. So far seven bodies have been recovered from the debris, and the search for the other worker is continuing. An investigation into the incident is underway.