MOSCOW - RUSSIAN emergency officials say a fire in a sauna outside Moscow has killed six people.

The sauna in an entertainment complex in a northern Moscow suburb caught fire around 3am (8am Singapore time) on Tuesday, said Emergency Situations spokesman Lyudmila Martynova. Saunas are popular pastime in Russia.

Officials gave no information about the cause of the fire.

Russia records nearly 18,000 fire deaths a year - several times the per-capita rate of the United States and other Western countries.

Deadly blazes at schools, hospitals and other facilities in recent years have revealed official negligence and rampant violations of fire safety rules. -- AP