Children among 64 dead in mall blaze
A FIRE at a shopping mall in eastern Russia packed with children and their parents on the first weekend of the school holidays has killed 64 people.
Fire alarms had not sounded, and staff were reportedly nowhere to be seen as the blaze took hold on Sunday night at the Winter Cherry mall in Kemerovo, a city in Siberia, 1,900 miles east of Moscow, according to witnesses.
The fire was extinguished by yesterday morning after burning through the night. Firefighters are still recovering bodies as parts of the buildings are still smouldering. Some of the dead were found inside a cinema.
Investigators said emergency exits were blocked and a security guard turned off the public announcement system when he received a call about the blaze.
On Monday morning, Kemerovo residents brought flowers, candles and stuffed toys to a plaza outside the mall, and local hospitals reported an influx of people wanting to donate blood for the victims.
Sixty-four deaths were confirmed after the firefighters finished combing through the four floors of the mall. Six of the bodies have not yet been recovered.
Ten people have been taken to hospital. Health minister Veronika Skvortsova, who visited the Keremovo hospital where the victims were receiving treatment, said that one patient is an 11-yearold boy who jumped out of a window from the fourth floor.
The boy’s parents and younger brother died in the fire. The Investigative Committee said it has detained four people for questioning, including one of the mall’s tenants.
There is no word yet on how the fire started, though it is known to have begun on the top floor on Sunday evening.
Investigators have launched a probe into possible negligence and violations of the fire safety rules. Witness testimony indicates that the fire alarm did not go off and that staff did not arrange for the evacuation of the shopping mall, which was was converted from a former confectionery factory in 2013.
Winter Cherry was one of Kemerovo’s most popular entertainment centres for children, with its own indoor skating rink, petting zoo and trampolines.
Kemerovo residents said the mall was packed with children and their parents.
Anna Zarechneva, who was watching a film with her husband and son, said: “We didn’t hear the fire alarm, they even didn’t turn on the light during the show.”