MOSCOW: An apartment block caught fire due to suspected Bitcoin mining by the occupant in Russia.

According to reports, mining suspectedly caused the fire and destroyed eight top floor flats and flooded dozens more as firefighters tackled the flames.

A block of flats is believed to have set on fire as a result of bitcoin mining, according to reports. The top floor of the building in Russia was destroyed in the fire while dozens of other flats were flooded as a result of water from firefighters in Artem, near Vladivostok.

A resident was illegally using the block’s electricity at the time in order to mine the cryptocurrency. A heavy power surge is said to have caused overheating of the circuits, leading to the fire.

‘We have spotted something which looks like mining equipment,’ said a spokesman for the local division of the Emergencies Ministry.

Pictures from the scene show the charred remains of some of the mining equipment.

A resident called Oleg confirmed that ‘mining rig equipment was found in the attic’. He demanded: ‘I would now ban miners totally… so many apartments are burned completely, and 30 are flooded.’

‘We survived by a miracle…I was woken up by my roommate with hallucinations from carbon monoxide gas. By that time there was no electricity.

 

‘In the smoke and darkness we grabbed our passports, took the dog, put on our shoes and jackets – and ran. ‘For half an hour we watched as everything burned, the fire spread all over our apartment.’ A total of 5,400 square feet was destroyed or damaged by the inferno.

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