Moscow city authorities moved on Thursday to temporarily close 10 nightclubs in central Moscow over fire safety violations, as the death toll from a fire in a Perm nightclub rose to 135.
A total of 99 people injured in Saturday’s fire in the Khromaya Loshad (Lame Horse) nightclub remained hospitalized Thursday.
The Moscow nightclubs violating fire safety standards include Tochka, B2 and Ikra, and city authorities had applied to a court to suspend their work, said Alexei Alexandrov, prefect for the city’s Central Administrative District, Interfax reported.
By law, a court can shut down an enterprise for violations for 90 days, but after that the company can reopen without eliminating the violations and without notifying officials, Alexandrov said. He called for the law to be amended.
Meanwhile, a court has seized the property of Anatoly Zak, a co-owner of the Perm nightclub who has been arrested in connection with the fire, the Investigative Committee said.
•Emergency workers evacuated about 300 people from a shopping center in Perm on Thursday after a short circuit in an ATM sparked fears of a fire, Interfax reported.