Coast link to deadly blaze
A SIBERIAN shopping centre which burnt down killing at least 64 people has links to a Gold Coast-based Russian billionaire whose sister says the tragedy has hit him hard.
Denis Shtengelov owns KDV Sports Centre at Carrara and helped fund the Winter Cherry building in Siberia.
The building, a former factory, burnt down this week. Russian authorities claimed fire alarms did not work, with other safety regulations allegedly breached.
Mr Shtengelov told Russian media his company did not run the mall and declined to say whether he was its overall owner.
All he confirmed was that he had helped fund its construction in 2013.
His Gold Coast-based sister Julia Shtengelova, who is a director of KDV Sports Centre, told the Bulletin her brother was feeling “horrible” about what had happened.
“How can you imagine he would feel? So many kids and people have died,” an emotional Ms Shtengelova said, adding she would be happy to pass any Bulletin questions on to her brother.
Mr Shtengelov, who splits his time between his Gold Coast and his homeland, told Russian media he felt moral responsibility for the incident but would not return to Russia.
Since the fire, five people have been arrested and Mr Shtengelov said he did not wish to join them, telling local media “To come just to go to jail?”
“I’m sorry for everyone who was directly or indirectly affected,” he said.
“I take it as a personal tragedy. But I would like to have the real perpetrators identified.”
In a separate statement to SBS last night he said: “We are greatly saddened by this tragic disaster and our thoughts and prayers are with the families of this tragedy,”
The shopping centre is located in Kemerovo, about 3000km east of Moscow and erupted into flames on Sunday night.
According to investigators, emergency exits were blocked, the public announcement system had been turned off and some people had been locked inside the cinema where their bodies were later found.
Investigators are now searching for a security guard who allegedly switched off the announcement system.
At least 12 people were hospitalised while 2000 animals were killed in the fire, having been trapped in the centre’s petting zoo.
In a statement to the Russian website Mash, Mr Shtengelov said he was simply an investor in the centre.
He named a Russian woman as being the director.