Children among 64 dead following shopping centre blaze in Kemerovo, Russia

Russia has been rocked after a minimum of 64 people were killed following a fire on the 25th March that ripped through a shopping and entertainment complex, which was located in Kemerovo – a coal-mining city in Siberia.
According to Russian officials, most of the victims are children, while there are still 10 people classified as missing, meaning the toll could increase.
While many of the victims were at the cinema, the fire started on an upper floor of the Winter Cherry complex.
“According to preliminary information, the roof collapsed in two cinemas,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement.
Thus far, the cause of the blaze isn’t known, while authorities have launched an investigation into events.
However, Vladimir Chernov – the region’s deputy governor – was quoted by local media as saying that the fire broke out in a children’s trampoline room.
“The preliminary suspicion is that a child had a cigarette lighter which ignited foam rubber in this trampoline room, and it erupted like gunpowder,” he said.
Kemerovo lies around 2,200 miles (3,600km) east of Moscow, and is a key coal-producing area.
Anna Kuznetsova, who is the commissioner for children’s rights in Russia, blamed negligence for the fire, before calling for urgent safety checks at similar entertainment complexes around the country.
Firefighters fought the fire for over 17 hours, while there were some 660 emergency personnel deployed to assist with the rescue effort.
The shopping centre itself only opened up fairly recently, with the doors being open in 2013, and it includes restaurants, a sauna, a bowling alley, a multiplex cinema, and a petting zoo. As a result of the fire, all the animals at the zoo are reported to be dead.
At time of writing, there are still 11 injured victims being treated in hospital for smoke inhalation.
Local media have reported that the fire started at around 17:00 in a part of the building that housed the entertainment complex.
Yevgeny Dedyukhin, deputy head of the Kemerovo region emergency department, said the area of the fire was about 1,500 sq m.
“The shopping centre is a very complex construction,” he said. “There are a lot of combustible materials.”
According to the Investigative Committee, four people have been detained for questioning, and these include the head of the company that manages the shopping centre, as well as the owner of the Winter Cherry complex.