Mysterious blaze destroys 12 elite cars in Moscow

A dozen expensive cars with a total value of more than $3 million went up in flames in central Moscow after a mysterious fire broke out on the roof of a parking lot early in the morning on Nov. 21.

The blaze ravaged 70 square meters of space in a covered lot in Oruzheiny Lane before being extinguished. According to the Moscow office of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the call reporting the fire came in at 5:46 a.m.

After fire broke out on the roof, its wooden foundation quickly burned down and the entire structure fell onto the cars, which were also set alight. After about an hour the flames were put out, but by then the fire had destroyed four Rolls-Royces and Bentleys, four Porsche Panameras and four Mercedes Gelandewagen AMG and Mercedes S-klass models.

According to preliminary information, the prestigious foreign cars belonged to the Sirius investment company. The company cars had a specially equipped parking lot with a profiled sheeting roof on a wooden foundation, reports the Kommersant business daily. The total value of the cars was over 150 million rubles (more than $3 million).

Experts from the fire department are now trying to identify the cause of the conflagration. According to the police, there are grounds to suspect arson, since the roof caught fire in two different places.

The police are now carrying out an investigation into the fire, Interior Ministry Spokesman for Moscow Andrei Galiakberov told Interfax.

"Interior Ministry agents from the Central Moscow district are now investigating the burning of the cars in the parking lot," said Galiakberov, adding that the investigation would establish a conclusion once the technical evaluation had been examined.

Based on materials from Interfax and Kommersant.

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