Hundreds evacuated after fire breaks out at Moscow theater, no injuries reported

Fire fighters work at the site of a fire today at the building of the School of Modern Drama theater in Moscow.

MOSCOW — Hundreds of people have been evacuated from a Moscow theater after a fire broke out 20 minutes before the start of a matinee performance.

The emergency services say no one was injured in the blaze at the School of Modern Drama in central Moscow.

No cause has yet been determined for the fire, which started between the second floor and the attic today. The emergency services said in a statement that 350 people were evacuated. It took firefighters two and a half hours to extinguish the blaze.

The theater occupies a building that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries housed the Hermitage restaurant, which was frequented by Russia’s cultural and intellectual elite.