Two firefighters died and an unknown number of paintings and religious icons were destroyed in a blaze Thursday at a Moscow restoration center that took three helicopters and 47 firefighting units to subdue.
The fire, which started at 1 p.m., engulfed 2,000 square meters of the Grabar restoration center's three-story building on Ulitsa Radio, near Baumanskaya metro station, destroying most of its top floor, said the Moscow branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry.
Two firefighters died of monoxide poisoning from inhaling smoke as they checked whether any people remained in the building, a ministry spokeswoman said.
The fire was localized by 5 p.m. but only completely extinguished later Thursday evening, Vesti television reported.
The fire was likely sparked by welding work conducted on the roof of the building, the center's employers told Vesti.
It was not immediately clear which icons and paintings submitted for restoration had been destroyed in the fire.
Alexander Zhilkin, a senior researcher at the center, said the majority of works were unharmed because they were preserved in an underground bunker, Vesti reported.
But most artwork located on the third floor was destroyed, Interfax reported.
The Investigative Committee has opened an inquiry.
The center, named after 20th-century Russian artist Igor Grabar, was relocated to its current office in 2006 when the church building it previously occupied was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.
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