Exits blocked in deadly Russian mall inferno
MOSCOW: Investigators looking into a fire that killed at least 64 people at a busy shopping mall in Siberia said a security guard had turned off the public address system and exits had been illegally blocked.
The fire, one of the deadliest in Russia since the breakup of the Soviet Union, swept through the upper floors of the “Winter Cherry” shopping centre in the city of Kemerovo, where a cinema complex and children’s play area were located, on Sunday afternoon.
Dozens of children were feared to be among the dead.
Vladimir Putin, re-elected president last weekend, expressed “deep condolences”, the Kremlin said. But he has yet to speak publicly about the tragedy, which has stirred anger in Kemerovo, a coal-producing region about 3 600km east of Moscow.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which handles major crimes, said it was trying to bring in the mall’s owner for questioning and wanted to detain a security guard who turned off the public address system after learning of the blaze. “Serious violations (of the law) took place when the mall was being built and when it was functioning. The fire exits were blocked,” said Svetlana Petrenko, a spokesperson for the committee.
Four people have already been detained, including two employees of the firm that services the mall’s fire alarm.
Emergency services said they had extinguished the fire, but it had reignited in places, and rescuers were struggling to recover bodies because the top floor had collapsed.