Two Tajik migrants, Khisravshoh Malikov and Zohirshoh Hasanov, rescued two women from a burning shopping center in Bashkortostan, risking their lives as flames engulfed the building. Their actions attracted widespread attention in Tajikistan and Russia, although local media did not identify them as Tajik citizens, they told Asia-Plus.
The fire broke out at the Solnechny shopping center in Sterlitamak on September 22, killing four people and injuring 18 others, according to official data. The blaze covered about 2,100 square meters and was reportedly caused by an electrical short circuit.
Asia-Plus spoke with the two rescuers and Muhammadsanjar Rahimov, another Tajik migrant who witnessed the fire and was the first to call the fire service.
‘Nobody dared approach the building’
Malikov, 30, comes from Madm village in the Ayni district of Sughd province and has worked in Russia for more than a decade. He is employed in construction in Sterlitamak.
The fire broke out at the Solnechny shopping center in Sterlitamak on September 22, killing four people and injuring 18 others, according to official data. The blaze covered about 2,100 square meters and was reportedly caused by an electrical short circuit.
Asia-Plus spoke with the two rescuers and Muhammadsanjar Rahimov, another Tajik migrant who witnessed the fire and was the first to call the fire service.
‘Nobody dared approach the building’
Malikov, 30, comes from Madm village in the Ayni district of Sughd province and has worked in Russia for more than a decade. He is employed in construction in Sterlitamak.
He said he was having a meal at a fast-food café when he heard people screaming for help and rushed towards the shopping center. He saw a woman who had jumped from a window and learned that two more women were trapped on the third floor.
“People were saying, ‘It’s going to blow, the gas will explode!’ But those two women were crying and screaming,” Malikov told Asia-Plus.
He asked a driver to bring a Gazelle van close to the building, climbed onto its roof and set up a ladder. Hasanov, who had not previously known Malikov, joined him.
Together, they climbed towards the third floor and helped the two women escape. Malikov said they left the building just seconds before the windows on that floor exploded.
“I’m a village lad — I’m not afraid of situations like that. Doing it was my human duty. That’s how we were brought up: if someone needs help, you must help them,” he said.
Zohirshoh Hasanov, originally from Mirzochul village in the Roudaki district, has worked in construction in Bashkortostan for six years. He said he joined the rescue because he saw Malikov struggling to help the women alone.
After the incident, Sterlitamak’s mayor met the two men and presented them with certificates of appreciation.
‘They did not mention that we are from Tajikistan’
Rahimov, who witnessed the fire and called emergency services, said Russian and local media had reported the rescue without mentioning that the men were citizens of Tajikistan.
“I have noticed many times: Russian media do not name migrants’ identities when they do something good. But if they break even the slightest rule, their nationality and citizenship are always highlighted,” he told Asia-Plus.
Malikov said wider coverage of migrants’ good deeds could help improve public attitudes towards them and reduce what he described as unwarranted checks and harassment in Russian cities.
Other Tajik migrants have also saved lives
The rescue is the latest reported case of Tajik migrants risking their lives to help others in Russia.
Earlier this month, Tajik driver Yusuf Qayumov helped prevent a potentially deadly accident in Vladivostok by steering his vehicle into the path of a speeding lorry whose brakes had failed and which was heading towards a residential area.
In May last year, Tajik migrant Sayedvali Sharifov rescued three children from a house fire in the Berezovsky district of Russia’s Sverdlovsk region. He reportedly entered the burning house four times, carrying the children out one by one.