Feature

Third fire breaks out at a Russian World Cup stadium

One of Russia’s under-construction World Cup stadiums in Nizhny Novgorod set ablaze yesterday (Thursday), in what was the third fire to break out at a venue for the 2018 international football event in the last four months.

The Nizhny Novgorod Stadium is one of the 12 host venues for the 2018 World Cup. It will host a quarter-final and five other games next summer.

Local officials said the blaze at the 45,000-seat arena was quickly extinguished.

The contractor working on the stadium-build said in a statement that the fire began at 1.30pm GMT after a welding spark ignited polystyrene debris in a stand.

The statement confirmed: “The incident has no impact on construction and the deadline for the stadium’s completion.”

In addition, a spokeswoman for the local branch of Russia’s emergencies ministry said it was looking into the cause of the blaze, though she confirmed that it had been put out quickly with no one suffering any injuries.

Thick smoke could be seen rising from Nizhny Novgorod Stadium in pictures and video footage circulated by Russian media. It marks the third fire reported at Russia’s World Cup venues since June.

The fire came soon after Fifa released a statement saying Russia is on track with its preparations to host the event in 2018.

Volgograd Arena in southern Russia had a fire break out in June, with authorities claiming that it occurred due to lax safety regulations. Later in August, another blaze broke out at the Cosmos Arena in Samara, which has faced several delays in recent months.

In June, Building and Woodworkers International (BWI), the global trade union for construction workers, hit out at Fifa for not taking further action to ensure better working conditions at World Cup stadiums in Russia.

According to ESPN FC, the organisation accused football’s global governing body of being “unwilling to take on the stadium construction companies and tell them what to do,” due to the “political climate and sensibilities” in the country.

Image: Джон 1987