Man dies in Cinema Towers fire in Almaty

"The fire at the business center in Baizakov Street was reported at 6:04 p.m. Firefighters were summoned to the scene in seven minutes. Upon arrival they saw that the blaze engulfed the roof of the 6-storey building, a part of the Almaty Towers Business Center. Firefighters quickly realized that the fire can spread to two 25-storey towers. The welder was working on the roof of the movie theater and sustained carbon monoxide poisoning. The man was pronounced dead at the scene," official spokesperson of the Almaty emergencies department Sandugash Baimukhambetova told Kazinform correspondent.

80 people were evacuated from the scene. Firefighting crew contained the flames by 8:07 p.m. and extinguished the fire completely by 8:36 p.m.

The fire damaged an area of 1,800 sq.m. At least 150 firefighters were battling the blaze.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the fire.