The blaze broke out in a four-story brick building housing the Solnechny trade and service complex, Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said. The fire covered more than 2,000 square meters.
Four people died and four were injured, according to the Emergency Situations Ministry and the Bashkortostan Health Ministry. Among the injured are a 16-year-old girl and a 27-year-old woman who jumped from the third floor. One of the injured is in serious condition.
Seventeen people, including one child, were evacuated from the market grounds. A criminal case has been opened on charges of causing death by negligence to two or more persons.
Witnesses told Ufa1.ru that the alarm may have failed to go off during the fire, and that people jumped from the windows of the upper floors and fell from ladders that passersby and market employees used to try to rescue them. The complex's administration said the alarm did go off.
The Telegram channel Baza, which is close to law enforcement, claims there were seven injured.
Accounts differ: the Emergency Situations Ministry and the Bashkortostan Health Ministry report four dead and four injured, while Baza reports seven injured. TV Rain earlier reported three dead. Witnesses describe a failed alarm, which the complex's administration denies.