At least eight people have died in a fire at a makeshift housing facility for construction workers in Sevastopol, on the occupied Crimean peninsula, Russian-appointed officials said Thursday morning.

The Russian state news agency TASS, citing local law enforcement officials, said the fire that broke out at night in a house on the outskirts of Sevastopol was caused by a short circuit in an electrical appliance.

Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula, recognized by most countries as Ukrainian territory, from Ukraine in 2014. Kyiv said it plans to return it by force.

Mikhail Raznozayev, the Russian-appointed governor, said the fire broke out in a two-story construction workers’ home on Taurida Highway, a new arterial road linking Sevastopol and Simferopol on the Crimean peninsula.

At the time of the fire, there were 185 people in the small two-story building, according to the Russian news agency RIA, citing local ambulance services.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, which investigates major crimes, said it had launched an investigation into the cause of the fire and that its investigators were working at the scene. According to the latest information, the cause of the fire was a malfunction of some electrical appliance.

The fire was extinguished this morning, Raznozaev also said in his Telegram message.

According to the information, two workers were taken to the hospital.

Source: APE-MPE, TASS