Famous mosque in Astana is on fire.

Interfax - The fire that erupted at the largest Hazrat Sultan mosque being built in Astana has been extinguished, the country's Emergencies Ministry said.

The effort involved 171 personnel and 35 pieces of equipment from the Astana emergency department. The estimated area of the fire was 800 square meters.

One person has been killed by the fire.

The mosque is located on an eleven-hectare site in northeast Astana. The mosque was named by President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Hazrat Sultan is an epithet to the Sufi sheikh Khoja Akhmet Yassawi, the author of "Divan Hakmet" ("The book of wisdom").

"This is the largest mosque in Central Asia. It will be completed next year, because the external decorations will have to be completed during warmer days. We shall open the mosque after its completion," Nazarbayev said on December 7 after being briefed on the construction progress

The mosque is designed in a classical Islamic style, using the traditional Kazakh ornaments and decorative elements. The total area of the building is 17,700 square meters. The mosque houses prayer rooms, rooms for ritual washing and marriage rituals, halls for Quran reading and lessons. The great hall in Hazrat Sultan has a capacity of up to 5,000 people. The height of the main dome is 51 meters, diameter - 28.1 meters; the height of each of the four minarets is 77 meters.