First funerals held for mall blaze victims
Huge outpouring of grief at funeral as residents rue insufficient response from authorities
Russia yesterday held a national day of mourning and buried the first victims of a fire that ravaged a busy shopping centre and killed at least 64 people, most of them children.
Flags were lowered and entertainment events cancelled three days after the devastating blaze on Sunday in the western Siberian city of Kemerovo.
On Tuesday thousands of people gathered in Moscow and other cities to mourn the victims and vent their anger at the authorities after children were trapped in a locked cinema as the inferno spread through the mall.
The youngest victim according to an official list published by regional authorities was a twoyear-old boy, while at least 19 of the 64 people who perished were under 10. Forty-one children died in the fire.
After a huge outpouring of grief and criticism on social media, President Vladimir Putin — who was this month reelected for a fourth term — on Tuesday visited the scene and upbraided officials at a televised meeting.
But many observers said the Kremlin’s reaction was insufficient and belated.
“The authorities were late in announcing mourning,” political analyst Abbas Gallyamov told Vedomosti business daily.
“Possibly they didn’t want to spoil the positive mood after the elections and there was hope that the tragedy would not turn out to be so large-scale.”
Officials have said that multiple safety rules were violated, the fire alarm system had not worked and staff did not follow correct emergency procedures, while witnesses reported that the exit to one cinema had been locked.
Criticised
Regional authorities have come in for particular criticism, since the veteran regional governor Aman Tuleyev — who lost a young relative in the fire — has not visited the scene nor met angry residents. On Tuesday, Kemerovo residents packed the main square in a rare protest, some holding placards and shouted slogans calling for the sacking of Tuleyev and Putin.
Deputy Governor Sergei Tsivilev met protesters but accused a man — who lost his wife, sister and three young kids in the fire — of seeking “publicity from grief”. While Putin was in the city, he did not come onto the square to meet the protesters and met a group of locals separately.
In the Kemerovo region, relatives were holding the first funerals for victims as regional emergencies minister Alexander Mamontov said 27 bodies have been identified.
Several hundred people attended the funeral of 57-year-old Nadezhda Agarkova and her two grandchildren Konstantin, 8, and Maria, 10, who died together in the mall cinema, RIA Novosti state news agency reported.