Russians Grieve As At Least 53 Killed In Siberian Shopping Mall Fire

'Glaring Violations' Cited As Russian Shopping Mall Fire Kills 64

Last Updated: March 26, 2018 12:36 GMT

- RFE/RL's Russian Service (http://www.rferl.org/author/92181.html)

Blocked fire exits, a shut-down alarm system, and "glaring violations" of safety rules exacerbated the human toll of a fire that swept though a busy Siberian shopping mall, killing 64 people as panicked visitors jumped from windows and banged on doors in an attempt to escape, Russian investigators say.

An Investigative Committee statement (http://sledcom.ru/news/item/1212857/?print=1) on March 26 suggested that the effects of the fire that broke out at a shopping center in Kemerovo a day earlier could have been much milder if not for violations committed during construction of the mall and after it opened in 2013.

"Investigators have already received evidence pointing to glaring violations that led to such grave consequences," the statement from committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said. In addition to long-standing safety violations, "it turns out that fire exits were blocked," Petrenko said. She also said that authorities are considering arresting a security guard "who turned off the alarm system upon receiving a signal about the fire."

Four people have been detained for questioning, including the heads of the company that managed the shopping center and the company that rented the space where the fire is believed to have started, the committee said. (http://sledcom.ru/news/item/1212670/)

A senior emergency official said on state TV early on March 26 that 41 children were believed to be missing, but the Investigative Committee did not say how many of those confirmed dead were children.

"An 11-year-old boy who jumped out of a fourth-floor window to save his life is the only survivor of his whole family. His mother, father, and a younger sibling all died," Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said.

Videos posted on social media showed a man leaping or falling to the street after climbing out a window and another man inside the building, trying to break down a door in a stairwell as flames and smoke filled the area.

Kemerovo region Governor Aman Tuleyev had declared that families of people killed in the blaze would receive a payment of 1 million rubles ($17,500) in compensation for each fatality. A three-day period of mourning was declared in the region.

The Investigative Committee said the blaze appeared to have started in a hallway at a multiplex cinema in the shopping mall and that the "roof collapsed in two theaters in the cinema."

Other officials, however, said that it was not clear where the fire started or what caused it.

The Interfax news agency cited an unnamed local official source as saying it was probably caused by a short circuit, but other accounts said the cause could have been arson or an accident.

Regional Deputy Governor Vladimir Chernov said on March 25 that a child apparently set fire to the foam on a trampoline in a play area using a lighter.

On March 26, the Investigative Committee issued an unusual appeal (http://sledcom.ru/news/item/1212786/)to witnesses and survivors for information that might help "establish a more complete picture" of what happened.

The committee said about 120 people had been evacuated from the 1,500-square-meter shopping center, which is called Zimnyaya Vishnya (Winter Cherry) and also includes an entertainment complex, a petting zoo, and several restaurants. It opened in 2013.

On March 25, television footage showed smoke billowing from the building as fire crews worked to evacuate the multistory facility. People were also seen jumping from windows to escape the blaze.

"This shopping center on several floors was packed with people midday [on March 25]," one official said. "No one knows exactly how many people there were inside when the fire broke out."

Kemerovo is an industrial city and the capital of a coal-producing region of the same name.

With reporting by Current Time TV, AP, Reuters, the BBC, TASS, and RIA Novosti