1977 Fire at the Rossiya Hotel

Forty years ago, on February 25, 1977, a fire broke out on the 13th floor of the Rossiya Hotel in Moscow, as a result of which 43 people died, another 52 people were injured of varying severity. To save people, 8 fire ladders were initially involved, but they only reached the seventh floor. Then, a "chain" of several attack ladders was stretched up to the 12th floor. As a result, 43 lives were saved. Most of those who tried to go down the ordinary stairs between the floors of the hotel died from suffocation. The source of the fire was located in the radio center of the hotel, but the exact cause of the fire remained unknown.

Charges of negligence and violation of fire safety rules were brought against two employees of the radio center, the fire inspector who drew up the act on the state acceptance of the building, the chief engineer of the hotel and its director Vladimir Zasypkin. With regard to the last three criminal cases were terminated under an amnesty, and the first two received three years of suspended imprisonment.