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(32,877 posts)Kaleva
(36,490 posts)Raine
(30,565 posts)sprinkleeninow
(20,297 posts)GoneOffShore
(17,352 posts)multigraincracker
(32,859 posts)BumRushDaShow
(130,903 posts)41 minutes ago
A huge fire has ripped through a major shopping complex on the edge of Moscow killing at least one person, Russia's Emergencies Ministry has said. Video of the blaze showed explosions at the massive Mega Khimki mall. Arson is being investigated as a possible cause of the fire, but an electrical fault is thought to be a more likely trigger.
The mall had housed major Western retail outlets, until they pulled out after February's invasion of Ukraine. The fire spread across the roof of the OBI superstore at the complex overnight on Thursday, and at one point covered 18,000 sq m (194,000 sq ft).
By around 08:30 Moscow time (05:30 GMT) firefighters quoted by Russian media said it had been contained to an area of 7,000 sq m. The Emergencies Ministry is said to be considering using aviation to continue fighting the fire.
At least one explosion at OBI, which sells home and garden improvement wares, caused the structure to start collapsing, firefighters said.
(snip)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63914682
I noticed in the video that there were cars snowed in, in the mall parking lot!
Celerity
(44,135 posts)Obi was founded in 1970 by Emil Lux, Manfred Maus and Klaus Birker with the opening of the first Obi store in the Alstertal shopping center in Hamburg-Poppenbüttel. In 1985 the Tengelmann Group acquired a majority stake in Obi. The share was increased in 2007 by buying the shares of the Lux founding family. Obi has been present in Switzerland since 1999, in partnership with the Migros cooperative. It formerly had operated 13 stores in mainland China but these were sold to B&Q in 2005.
The company expanded in Romania in 2008, where it opened 7 stores until 2010. Due to the economic crisis and the small market share, the company decided in 2014 to close the stores, 5 of them were sold to Jumbo. Also in 2008 the company opened the first 2 stores in Ukraine, followed in 2009 by a third store. They closed in 2013. In 2015, Obi took over 68 stores from bankrupt Baumax, 48 of which are located in Austria, 14 stores in Slovakia, two stores in Slovenia, and four locations in Czechia.
In March 2022, Obi closed all operations in Russia due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
On April 27, 2022, the chain's stores began to resume work in Russia. The retailer sold its business to a Russian investor. The businessman Josef Liokumovich became the new owner. According to him, he acquired the Russian business of OBI for a symbolic price of 600 rubles (10 USD).
BumRushDaShow
(130,903 posts)there were a few sentences left in the BBC article that mentioned that and if I had added that, just about the whole article would have been in the excerpt which I didn't want to do...
(was still staring at the damn snow in the vid... )
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)Russia is currently undergoing death by a thousand cuts.
Hundreds and thousands of the tiniest of things are no longer available in Russia: microchips, certain electronics, certain chemicals, airbags for cars, brake-pads for airplane-brakes, ball-bearings for train-cars, white paper.......
It is entirely possible that a simple valve or seal in a gas-pipe was defective and couldn't be replaced before the accident because it's no longer on sale in Russia.
underpants
(183,303 posts)But I could be wrong in the scale.
DFW
(54,681 posts)Anyone who has been to Moscow probably knows the appalling state of many of their buildings, and their decades-old and/or sloppy wiring and plumbing. When visiting a friend there in the dead of winter (23° BELOW zero C), we were sweating so bad (central heating for the whole block), that we even opened the windows a little so we could sleep. He kept food outside on an extended window sill, since his freezer didn't have enough space, and anyway, it was colder outside than inside his freezer.
oldsoftie
(12,747 posts)Attack military targets
reACTIONary
(5,810 posts)electric_blue68
(15,152 posts)live love laugh
(13,289 posts)Russian attacks on UKR soil.
Roy Rolling
(6,956 posts)As much as Putin is despised we wish no harm to the civilians caught in the crossfire launched by a madman.
The Russian people need to differentiate themselves from Putin and his thug government.
If they dont stand up, Putin will eventually cripple them too.