Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Mall fire aftermath
People mourn Tuesday in Moscow after laying flowers at a memorial to the victims of a shopping mall fire in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on Sunday that killed at least 64 people. At a rally in Kemerovo, thousands of people called for the ouster of regional officials. President Vladimir Putin visited the mall and cited “criminal negligence and sloppiness.”
MOSCOW — Thousands of Russians rallied Tuesday in a Siberian city to demand the ouster of regional officials for a shopping mall fire that killed at least 64 people.
President Vladimir Putin, on a trip to the eastern city of Kemerovo, scolded officials for neglecting safety rules that could have prevented the tragedy.
The blaze engulfed the Winter Cherry mall in Kemerovo on Sunday, the first weekend of the school recess, trapping dozens of parents and children inside. Witnesses reported that fire alarms were silent, and many doors were locked. Many of the victims were children who died in a locked movie theater after making desperate calls for help.
Putin arrived early Tuesday, laying flowers at the makeshift memorial to the victims outside the mall and meeting with officials. He did not show up at the protest in front of the regional government’s headquarters, but he met with some demonstrators at the city’s morgue.
“Hearing about so many children who died fills you with a desire to not simply cry but to wail,” Putin said. “We lost so many people because of criminal negligence and sloppiness.”
Emergency officials said 58 bodies have been recovered and that rescue workers were still searching for six more in the city that is 1,900 miles east of Moscow. They said 41 of the victims were children.