One killed in huge blaze at retailer Ozon’s warehouse near Moscow – RIA

MOSCOW (Reuters) -At least one person was killed and 13 injured when a huge fire broke out at a warehouse north west of Moscow owned by e-commerce firm Ozon on Wednesday, RIA quoted the emergency services as saying.

Dozens of firefighters battled to douse the fire using helicopters and 100 tonnes of water as a large plume of dark smoke billowed from the roof of the bright blue warehouse.

RIA reported that the emergency services were considering arson as the likeliest cause of the fire at the warehouse near the settlement of Istra.

Ozon said all employees had been safely evacuated from the warehouse and that none had been injured. The fire broke out in a standalone block at its fulfilment centre, Ozon said, a site that holds and processes thousands of goods slated for delivery.

The emergencies ministry said the fire had spread to an area of 35,000 square metres. A fire-pumping station, an Mi-8 helicopter, two Ka-32 helicopters, 150 firefighters and 40 other pieces of equipment were deployed to the scene, it said.

Ozon said it had removed the goods in the warehouse from its online marketplace.

“Customers will be refunded for lost orders,” Ozon said in a statement. “Sellers will receive compensation for damaged or lost goods.”

Nasdaq-listed Ozon is one of Russia’s largest e-commerce players. It was not immediately clear what value or number of goods were affected.

Ozon’s Moscow-listed depositary receipts were up 0.4% at 1349 GMT after earlier slipping to a near two-week low.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Alexander Smith)