Russian church ravaged by fire

FIRE raged through one of St Petersburg’s biggest buildings yesterday, bringing down the main cupola atop the stately church in Russia’s former Imperial capital and sending clerics scurrying to save treasured icons.

The blaze erupted in the early evening and burned through scaffolding outside the soaring blue central dome of Trinity Cathedral, a duty officer at the Russian Emergency Situations ministry said. The cause was not immediately known.

The central dome collapsed and one of four smaller cupolas surrounding it — painted a striking light blue and in some cases spangled with gold stars — was also destroyed by the fire, St Petersburg emergency department spokeswoman Lyudmila Rubasova said. There were no reports of injuries, she said.