Russian firemen were battling early this morning to contain flames threatening to engulf Europe's tallest structure and to rescue four people trapped in an elevator 890 feet above the ground. Smoke and flames billowed from Moscow's landmark Ostankino TV tower, which soars 1,772 feet into the sky. A fire brigade spokesman said four people remained trapped in the burning tower. Three of them were firefighters and one was a woman who operated the elevator.
The power went off when the four were at a height of 271 yards on their way up to deliver supplies to firefighters. They risked the elevator instead of taking many flights of stairs.
"We have never seen anything like this, said Mr Mikhail Serikov, the head of one team of firefighters. "Nothing like this has ever happened before."
The fire broke out on yesterday afternoon, briefly blacking out national television stations which use it as a relay station. Transmissions to the regions were resumed by satellite later but Moscow's 10 million viewers were left with blank screens.
Thousands of spectators who gathered at the site were pushed back some 700 yards amid fears that the thin spire at the peak of the building might collapse.
A Reuters Television cameraman said early this morning that the smoke pouring out of the building was diminishing.
Flames engulfed the top section of the tower, from near the summit to beneath its 1,095 ft high Seventh Heaven rotating restaurant, which was evacuated soon after the fire broke out.
Moscow mayor Mr Yuri Luzhkov told reporters that an exclusion zone near the bottom of the tower would remain in force throughout today as a precaution.
He said experts thought it unlikely the tower would topple.