At least 17 people died in last week’s fire at a Russian military research facility, authorities have said.

The regional government in Tver, a city about 112 miles north-west of Moscow, said that so far only five of the victims had been identified.

The blaze at the Central Research Institute for Air and Space Defence of the Russian Defence Ministry in Tver erupted on Thursday and it took authorities a day to put it out.

Officials previously said 27 people were injured and 13 of them were admitted to hospital.

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

The research institute was involved in the development of some of the state-of-the-art Russian weapons systems, reportedly including the Iskander missile.