MOSCOW, June 18 (RIA Novosti) - Rescuers have completed their search and rescue operation at the site of a building which collapsed in central Moscow on Wednesday, a municipal emergencies service spokesman said on Thursday.

Three people, all construction workers from former Soviet republics, died when the building collapsed.

Renovation work was being carried out on the building, located at Sadovnicheskaya Naberezhnaya 78, at the time of the collapse. The accident occurred at around 5:00 p.m. Moscow time [13:00 GMT].

Three people have been rescued and three others made their way out from under the rubble independently after the collapse.

A Moscow construction official said the building collapsed due to unauthorized work to make the basement wider and deeper.

Deputy Moscow Mayor Vladimir Resin earlier that said all the people in the building at the time of the incident were workers from former Soviet republics, who were working and living in the building.

Resin also said the building, which was protected by law as a historical landmark, would now most likely be demolished "to prevent similar incidents in the future."

Six construction workers died late last year in central Moscow after a building partially collapsed.