Inferno breaks out at ‘top secret Russian research centre behind signal-jamming tech’ as horrifying images show people leaping eight floors to their death to escape flames

An inferno has spread through what is believed to be a top secret research center in Russia, with horrific footage showing people jumping and falling from the burning building.

Reports citing emergency services say at least eight people died in the fire-ravaged high-rise.

Russian media reported one man jumped and another fell to his death from the eight-storey block, while Shot media reported as many as four jumped from high windows.

One of the men who fell had already suffered terrible burns. The fate of the others was not immediately clear.

Explosions were heard in the burning block as 100 firefighters fought to rescue people trapped in the building, which is located in Fryazino, near Moscow.

The building is thought to house the Platan Research Institute, which develops radioelectronic systems used by the Russian Defense Ministry to jam signals, Newsweek reports.

Black smoke rises into the air above the high-rise building in Fryazino, near Moscow

According to reports, the fire had spread over 43,000 square meters, destroying the massive building

Bystanders watched helplessly as smoke poured from the high-rise building

Chilling footage shows workers helplessly looking outside through a smashed window

Fire and smoke rise from a burning administrative building in Fryazino, Moscow region

However, the Russian electronics group reported that the building has no relationship with the Platan Research Institute or the defense industry, claiming that it “became private property in the late 1990s.”

One theory behind the cause of the fire is that gas cylinders at the science institute had exploded, although the cause of the fire has not yet been confirmed.

Harrowing footage showed people struggling to escape smoke and fire, with victims rushing outside before throwing themselves from the building in a bid to escape.

Chilling footage also emerged of workers looking helplessly out through a smashed window as they waited for rescue.

According to reports, the fire had spread over 43,000 square meters, destroying the massive building.

It was unclear why the response to deploying helicopter firefighters to flood the building with water was so slow.

Russia has suffered an extraordinary series of fires this year during the war in Ukraine.

Last year, a massive fire burned down an online shopping warehouse in St. Petersburg that was used as a location for recruiting migrant workers for Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

In another incident in March, a major fire raged at a factory that produced engines.