At least 20 people were killed Monday in a store fire, believed to be started by two teenagers, in the northern Russian city of Ukhta, emergency officials and witnesses said.

The blaze started at around 2:00 PM Moscow time (10:00 GMT) in Ukhta, a city in the far northern Komi republic, when two teenagers ran into the store and threw a bottle with burning substances, the republic's Kominform news agency quoted witnesses as saying.

Earlier reports said the blaze was caused by the explosion of a gas canister.

The Itar-Tass news agency quoted emergency officials as saying 20 people were killed and 17 others injured in the blaze that raced through the old two-story building in Ukhta, a city of 100,000 residents and home to some oil and gas processing plants.

Anatoly Nuikin, head of the regional department of the Emergency Situations Ministry, said the main cause of the deaths was suffocation as the interior of the store was decorated with plastic paneling and the windows were barred.

Eight people were hospitalized with burns and injuries and five of them are in critical condition, a law enforcement officer told Itar-Tass.

Regional prosecutors have opened a criminal inquiry into the blaze.

(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2005)