Russian blaze kills 11 builders

Eleven construction workers have died in a fire at a building site near the Russian capital, Moscow.

The blaze broke out early in the morning at a cabin where workers were sleeping at a construction site in the town of Pavshinskaya Poima.

Firefighters found the bodies when they put out the fire. The victims died from smoke inhalation, officials quoted by Russian media said.

Fire officials are probing the cause of the blaze, which injured four others.

One regional official told Russia's Itar-Tass news agency that a short circuit, defective electrical systems or human error could be to blame.

Russian media said the victims were all migrant workers from other parts of Russia or former Soviet republics.

Officials said there were 15 people together in one cabin when the fire broke out during a routine overnight shift.

It lasted 90 minutes before being extinguished, they added.

"As the fire broke began, most of them had no time to leave the cabin and died of carbon monoxide poisoning," a Russian government official told Itar-Tass.