Two people died and eight were hurt today in a massive fire at a shopping mall in central Russia, officials said.

The bodies of a man and a woman were found in the mall in the city of Ufa, emergency ministry spokesman Vasily Khisamutdinov said.

He said the fire started during construction in the mall and quickly engulfed the five-story building.

Visitors to the mall have been evacuated, and the injured have been taken to hospital, he said.

Ufa is the capital of the oil-rich, Volga River province of Bashkortostan.