A fire raced through a nine-story apartment building in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, killing eight people, including a child.

Emergency officials in the Sverdlovsk region said that the cause of the fire in the residential building overnight remained unknown.

According to preliminary data, the blaze started in an apartment on the second floor and smoke quickly filled the building, making it impossible for many residents on upper floors to escape.

Firefighters managed to rescue 90 people, including nine children, from the building. The eight residents who lost their lives were found in apartments on the second, fifth and ninth floors.