A store fire in the northern Russian city of Ukhta killed nearly 20 people on Monday, emergency officials said.
The emergency situations ministry put the toll at 19 dead and 17 injured. The Federal Security Service in Moscow earlier said 16 had been killed and 20 injured.
Thirty people were evacuated safely from the building, ministry spokesperson Irina Andriyanova said.
Vadim Zhuravlev, a duty officer at the Komi regional department of the Russian interior ministry, earlier said a fire had raced through a store selling gas fireplaces, and that eight people had died of smoke inhalation.
Subsequent calls to his office went unanswered.
The local prosecutor’s office said the fire appeared to have broken out after a keg of inflammable liquid was thrown into the store and could be the result of a business conflict, the Interfax news agency reported. — Sapa-AP