FIVE people have died and six others are injured after a heating pipe burst in a small Russian hotel.

Rooms at the hotel in the city of Perm - one of Oxford's twin cities - were flooded with boiling water.

The hotel of nine rooms was located in the basement of a residential building in the city near Russia's Ural Mountains.

ALSO READ: Man hit on the head with a metal pole in attack

All of the victims - which included a child - were staying at the hotel. Three of the injured were taken to hospital with burns.

Russian police have opened a probe into the tragedy.

Given the deaths, the Russian parliament might consider a ban on opening hotels or hostels in the basements of residential buildings, according to MP Oleg Melnichenko.

ALSO READ: 'Serious' injuries after car hits tree

"Hostels shouldn't be open in basements, where all pipelines are located," Mr Melnichenko said.

Last year the Russian parliament banned opening hostels or hotel rooms in flats in residential buildings.

Perm became a twin city of Oxford in 1995.