Russia fire: Dozens die in Kemerovo shopping mall blaze

[Right_in_Virginia]

Russia fire: Dozens die in Kemerovo shopping mall blaze
BBC, Mar 25, 2018

At least 37 people are confirmed to have died in a fire that tore through a shopping centre in the Siberian city of Kemerovo.

Dozens more people, children believed to be among them, are missing, according to Russian media.

The blaze started on an upper floor of the Winter Cherry complex and many of the victims were in a cinema.

Video posted on social media showed people jumping from windows to escape the flames on Sunday.

Smoke billowed from windows as fire crews worked to evacuate the property.

Kemerovo, a key coal-producing area, lies about 3,600km (2,200 miles) east of Moscow.

The cause of the blaze is not yet known but authorities have launched an investigation.


More:  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43531684

[Right_in_Virginia]

Dreadful.  Just dreadful.  Children, too.   

[TomSea]

Criminal Investigation opened up; sad. It appears to be a very urban area. A fire like this causing so much harm? I've got to think there is a good chance, it's planned rather than just some burnt out fused but if a clothing store caught fire or something, who knows?



https://themoscowtimes.com/news/at-least-5-dead-32-injured-in-fire-in-siberian-mall-60932

Could be 40 dead, 70 missing at this point.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/fire-kills-37-shopping-siberian-mall-dozens-more-still-missing-n859901

[Applewood]

An update here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/death-toll-in-russian-shopping-mall-fire-reaches-64-minister/ar-BBKFYVO?OCID=ansmsnnews11

64 dead, including children.  Fire exits were blocked. 

***

Years ago, our family doctor was a frequent visitor to the old Soviet Union -- this was during the Cold War when people from the US didn't usually travel there.  The doctor told stories of lax  or non-existent building and fire codes.  New buildings would fall down as soon as they were completed.  Emergency exits. fire extinguishers, alarms?  What are those?  Tragedies like this occurred frequently.    I guess things haven't improved since the fall of Communism.

[mountaineer]

AP reports people are protesting, demanding answers.

Thousands in Russian city rally after shopping mall fire
    By nataliya vasilyeva, associated press
MOSCOW — Mar 27, 2018, 7:52 AM ET

 Distraught and angry, thousands of Russians took to the main square of a Siberian city Tuesday to confront local officials whom they blamed for a shopping mall fire that killed at least 64 people, most of the children.

President Vladimir Putin, who also visited the city, blamed the deaths on "a criminal negligence, sloppiness," as he laid flowers in tribute to the victims. He did not address the rally, which went on for at least six hours.   ...

 One protester, Igor Vostrikov, addressed deputy governor Sergei Tsivilyov, saying that families of the victims think the death toll is much higher than stated because the entire movie theater burnt down in the city 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) east of Moscow.  ...

When the deputy governor dismissed the protester's call as "a PR stunt," Vostrikov retorted that he has lost his wife, sister and three daughters, aged 2, 5 and 7, in the fire.

"They died because they were locked in a movie theater," Vostrikov said in an interview on the Dozhd television station. "They were calling from there, asking for help: 'We're locked in, we're suffocating.' No one helped because when the blaze broke out, everyone ran away."  ...

[TomSea]

https://themoscowtimes.com/news/heres-how-russians-are-mourning-the-kemerovo-mall-fire-victims-across-country-60960

Great and moving pictures at this link of the country in mourning.

It shows, I often think, people are basically the same everywhere or at least, the same as us in a lot of places.

[Frank Cannon]

a fire that tore through a shopping centre

I hear that the deals at the Soviet Gap in the mall were smokin' hot.