Russian investigators and witnesses say there was no alarm and exits were blocked when a fire engulfed a shopping and entertainment mall in Siberia, killing at least 64 people.

Many of the victims in the coal-mining city of Kemerovo were children.

Russia's Investigative Committee spoke of blocked exits and "serious violations" at the Winter Cherry mall.

Sunday's blaze started on an upper floor. The mall's shops, cinema and bowling alley were packed at the time.

Video on social media showed people jumping from windows to escape.

The Investigative Committee says a fire safety technician at the complex "switched off the alarm system" after being alerted about the fire.

The committee says two other fire safety officials have been detained for questioning, along with the Winter Cherry complex's technical director and the manager of a business located where the fire started.

Ten people are still listed as missing. Local teachers are trying to trace their pupils, who were on holiday. They do not know how many were in the complex.

In a Facebook post (in Russian), Kemerovo politician Anton Gorelkin said that "fire exits were shut, turning the complex into a trap" and "there was no organised evacuation".

He also said a fire extinguisher that could have doused the flames at the start did not work.

The region's deputy governor, Vladimir Chernov, said "this is the question: why were the doors shut?"

Russian media said most of the roof had collapsed. The fire engulfed a children's trampoline room and a cinema on the fourth floor.

The cause of the fire is not yet known.

Firefighters said the building was still smouldering a day later, with smoke billowing out and the remaining structures at risk of collapse.

What do we know so far?

The fire broke out at about 17:00 (10:00 GMT) on Sunday. Some 660 emergency personnel were deployed in the rescue effort.

Deputy governor Chernov was quoted as saying the fire probably began in the 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.

However, Rossiya 24 TV, a national broadcaster, said an electrical fault was the most likely cause - as in most previous deadly fires in Russia.

Russia's commissioner for children's rights, Anna Kuznetsova, has blamed negligence, and called for urgent safety checks at similar entertainment complexes.

Two witnesses told BBC Russian that they had seen the fire blazing in the trampoline room on the fourth floor but had not heard any fire alarm.

Meanwhile, witness Anna Zarechneva told Russian RBC News that "a woman burst into the cinema during the film and shouted 'Fire! Fire!', and we started running out".

"The lights didn't come on in there to help us escape. We got out by following the floor lighting. But at that point no alarm bells were ringing. I only heard an alarm when I reached the first floor."

The daughter of a shop assistant who was working on the second floor said "the alarm didn't go off... she learnt about the fire from a man who ran past her - there was no help from any staff".

There are unconfirmed reports that some mall guards prevented children from fleeing down staircases.

Kemerovo region has declared three days of mourning, and locals are leaving flowers and cuddly toys at a makeshift memorial near the complex.

An Instagram post from Kemerovo showed a big queue of volunteers waiting to donate blood at a clinic.

Who were the victims?

At least nine of the bodies found so far are children.

As well as those killed, 11 injured victims are being treated in hospital, suffering from smoke inhalation.

The most serious case is an 11-year-old boy whose parents and siblings died in the fire, Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said. He reportedly fell from the fourth floor and is in intensive care with multiple injuries.

Russia's emergencies ministry says 58 bodies have been recovered, and so far just 17 have been identified.

The shopping centre, covering 23,000 sq m (248,000 sq ft), opened in 2013. It includes a petting zoo, all of whose animals are reported to have died.

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." </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Firefighters tackle fatal shopping centre blaze

Russian investigators and witnesses say there was no alarm and exits were blocked when a fire engulfed a shopping and entertainment mall in Siberia, killing at least 64 people.

Many of the victims in the coal-mining city of Kemerovo were children.

Russia's Investigative Committee spoke of blocked exits and "serious violations" at the Winter Cherry mall.

Sunday's blaze started on an upper floor. The mall's shops, cinema and bowling alley were packed at the time.

Video on social media showed people jumping from windows to escape.

The Investigative Committee says a fire safety technician at the complex "switched off the alarm system" after being alerted about the fire.

The committee says two other fire safety officials have been detained for questioning, along with the Winter Cherry complex's technical director and the manager of a business located where the fire started.

Ten people are still listed as missing. Local teachers are trying to trace their pupils, who were on holiday. They do not know how many were in the complex.

In a Facebook post (in Russian), Kemerovo politician Anton Gorelkin said that "fire exits were shut, turning the complex into a trap" and "there was no organised evacuation".

He also said a fire extinguisher that could have doused the flames at the start did not work.

The region's deputy governor, Vladimir Chernov, said "this is the question: why were the doors shut?"

Russian media said most of the roof had collapsed. The fire engulfed a children's trampoline room and a cinema on the fourth floor.

The cause of the fire is not yet known.

Firefighters said the building was still smouldering a day later, with smoke billowing out and the remaining structures at risk of collapse.

What do we know so far?

The fire broke out at about 17:00 (10:00 GMT) on Sunday. Some 660 emergency personnel were deployed in the rescue effort.

Deputy governor Chernov was quoted as saying the fire probably began in the 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.

However, Rossiya 24 TV, a national broadcaster, said an electrical fault was the most likely cause - as in most previous deadly fires in Russia.

Russia's commissioner for children's rights, Anna Kuznetsova, has blamed negligence, and called for urgent safety checks at similar entertainment complexes.

Two witnesses told BBC Russian that they had seen the fire blazing in the trampoline room on the fourth floor but had not heard any fire alarm.

Meanwhile, witness Anna Zarechneva told Russian RBC News that "a woman burst into the cinema during the film and shouted 'Fire! Fire!', and we started running out".

"The lights didn't come on in there to help us escape. We got out by following the floor lighting. But at that point no alarm bells were ringing. I only heard an alarm when I reached the first floor."

The daughter of a shop assistant who was working on the second floor said "the alarm didn't go off... she learnt about the fire from a man who ran past her - there was no help from any staff".

Russia's deadliest fires

2009 - 156 people die in a Perm nightclub inferno in the Urals region, Russia's worst fire in recent years (fireworks and lack of exits blamed)

2007 - Fire engulfs a rural old people's home in the southern region of Krasnodar, killing 63 (burning cigarette blamed)

2006 - 46 die in Moscow narcological hospital fire (arson blamed)

2003 - A hostel fire at the Russian People's Friendship University in Moscow kills 44 (lack of safety measures blamed)

1999 - Fire engulfs the police headquarters in the southern city of Samara, killing 57 people (burning cigarette blamed officially, but arson by criminals not ruled out)

Source: Interfax news agency

There are unconfirmed reports that some mall guards prevented children from fleeing down staircases.

Kemerovo region has declared three days of mourning, and locals are leaving flowers and cuddly toys at a makeshift memorial near the complex.

An Instagram post from Kemerovo showed a big queue of volunteers waiting to donate blood at a clinic.

Who were the victims?

At least nine of the bodies found so far are children.

As well as those killed, 11 injured victims are being treated in hospital, suffering from smoke inhalation.

The most serious case is an 11-year-old boy whose parents and siblings died in the fire, Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said. He reportedly fell from the fourth floor and is in intensive care with multiple injuries.

Russia's emergencies ministry says 58 bodies have been recovered, and so far just 17 have been identified.

Kemerovo lies about 3,600km (2,200 miles) east of Moscow.

The shopping centre, covering 23,000 sq m (248,000 sq ft), opened in 2013. It includes a petting zoo, all of whose animals are reported to have died.

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." </s> MOSCOW (AP) -- Witnesses say fire alarms were silent and staff was nowhere to be seen when a fire at a shopping mall packed with children and their parents on the first weekend of the school recess killed 64 people in Russia's Siberia.

The fire at the Winter Cherry mall in Kemerovo was extinguished by Monday morning after burning through the night.

Sixty-four deaths were confirmed after firefighters finished combing through the four floors of the mall, Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov told a televised briefing. Six of the bodies have not yet been recovered. Some of the dead were found inside a cinema, which one witness said had been locked shut.

Investigators said Monday that emergency exits were blocked and a security guard turned off the public announcement system when he received a call about the blaze, but they provided no information why that happened.

On Monday morning, Kemerovo residents were bringing flowers, candles and stuffed animals to a plaza outside the mall, and local hospitals reported an influx of people wanting to donate blood for the victims.

Out of 23 victims whose bodies have been identified, eight are children, the emergency officials said.

Thirteen people have been hospitalized. Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova, who visited the Keremovo hospital where the victims were receiving treatment, said on Russian state television that the patient in the gravest condition is an 11-year-old boy who jumped out of a window from the fourth floor. The boy's parents and younger sister died in the fire, Skvortsova said.

Some 200 animals are also believed to have died in the mall's petting zoo. The zoo's manager told the Tass news agency that the animals included rabbits, turtles, pigs, goats and rodents.

Russia's top investigative body said Monday afternoon that they are searching for a security officer who appears to have turned off the PA system when he received a call about the blaze.

Four people have been detained in connection with the deadly fire, including one of the mall's tenants. The investigators did not give the cause of the fire but said they have obtained evidence proving "flagrant violations" that could have contributed to the heavy loss of life, including the fact that the fire escapes were blocked.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday it was too early to draw conclusions about whether local officials failed in Kemerovo.

Witness testimony indicated that the fire alarms were not working, but it was not clear why. Eyewitnesses also said that staff did not arrange for the evacuation at the shopping mall, which was converted from a former confectionery factory in 2013.

Winter Cherry was one of Kemerovo's most popular entertainment centers 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 on the top floor where the fire started, watching a movie with her husband and son, said they only found out about the fire when a man ran into the theater shouting.

"We didn't hear the fire alarm, they even didn't turn on the light during the show," she said. "That movie could have been the last for us, I've only just realized that."

Alexander Lillevyali lost three daughters -- 11-year-old twins and a 5-year-old -- who were in a cinema hall on the top floor watching a cartoon.

Lillevyali told the Meduza news website that one of his daughters called him, saying that they could smell the smoke but could not get out because the door was locked.

"I was shouting into the phone, telling her to get out but there was nothing I could do -- the fire was in front of me," he said.

The Prosecutor General's Office on Monday ordered all shopping malls in Russia to be checked for fire safety features.

Russian companies routinely complain about excessive checks from various government agencies, which often abuse elaborate rules and regulations to pressure businesses. As a result, many companies prefer to pay bribes instead of complying with outdated and excessive regulations, including fire safety rules.

President Vladimir Putin late on Sunday offered his "deep condolences" to the families of the victims. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called for a moment of silence at a session of the government on Monday. </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Firefighters tackle fatal shopping centre fire

At least 64 people have died in a fire that engulfed a shopping and entertainment complex in the Siberian coal-mining city of Kemerovo.

Many of the victims are children. Ten people are still listed as missing.

The blaze started on an upper floor of the Winter Cherry complex during school holidays. The mall's shops, cinema and bowling alley were packed at the time.

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

"According to preliminary information, the roof collapsed in two cinemas," Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement.

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

Four people have been detained for questioning, including the head of the company that manages the shopping centre, according to the Investigative Committee. The owner of the Winter Cherry complex is among those being held.

What do we know so far?

The fire broke out at about 17:00 (10:00 GMT) on Sunday. Some 660 emergency personnel were deployed in the rescue effort.

Firefighters said the building was still smouldering a day later, with smoke billowing out and the remaining structures at risk of collapse.

The region's deputy governor Vladimir Chernov was quoted as saying the fire probably began 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.

However, Rossiya 24 TV, a national broadcaster, said an electrical fault was the most likely cause - as in most previous deadly fires in Russia.

Russia's commissioner for children's rights, Anna Kuznetsova, has blamed negligence, and called for urgent safety checks at similar entertainment complexes.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Firefighters had to be lifted to a great height to tackle the blaze

Two witnesses told BBC Russian that they had seen the fire blazing in the trampoline room on the fourth floor but had not heard any fire alarm.

Meanwhile, witness Anna Zarechneva told Russian RBC News that "a woman burst into the cinema during the film and shouted 'Fire! Fire!', and we started running out".

"The lights didn't come on in there to help us escape. We got out by following the floor lighting. But at that point no alarm bells were ringing. I only heard an alarm when I reached the first floor."

Who were the victims?

At least nine of the bodies found so far are children.

As well as those killed, 11 injured victims are being treated in hospital, suffering from smoke inhalation.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Smoke billowed from the building

The most serious case is an 11-year-old boy whose parents and siblings died in the fire, Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said. He reportedly fell from the fourth floor and is in intensive care with multiple injuries.

An Instagram post from Kemerovo showed a big queue of volunteers waiting to donate blood at a clinic.

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

The shopping centre, covering 23,000 sq m (248,000 sq ft), opened in 2013. It includes a petting zoo, all of whose animals are reported to have died.

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." </s> Moscow: Investigators looking into a fire that killed at least 64 people at a busy shopping centre in the Siberian city of Kemerovo say that a security guard had turned off the fire alarm system and that exits had been illegally blocked.

The fire, one of the deadliest in Russia since the break-up of the Soviet Union, swept through the upper floors of the Winter Cherry shopping centre on Sunday afternoon where a cinema complex and children's play area were located.

The tragedy has stirred deep anger in Kemerovo, a coal-producing region about 3600 kms east of Moscow.

The Kremlin published a statement on Monday, saying President Vladimir Putin "expressed his deep condolences to the relatives and loved ones of those who died".

Russia's Investigative Committee, which handles major crimes, said it was trying to bring in the mall's owner for questioning and wanted to detain a security guard who had turned off the fire alarm system after learning of the blaze. </s> Vladimir Putin has said the high death toll from a fire at a shopping centre in the Siberian city of Kemerovo was the result of “criminal negligence”, during a visit to the scene of the blaze.

At least 64 people were killed in the fire that broke out on Sunday afternoon. Investigators said fire exits at the mall had been illegally blocked and the fire alarm system had not functioned properly.

The fire swept through the upper floors of the Winter Cherry shopping centre, where a cinema complex and children’s play area were located.

Putin, re-elected as president last weekend, visited the scene on Tuesday and laid flowers at a makeshift memorial to the victims of the fire.

“What’s happening here? This isn’t war, it’s not a spontaneous methane outburst. People came to relax, children. We’re talking about demography and losing so many people,” Putin said in a meeting with ministers in Kemerovo.

“Why? Because of some criminal negligence, because of slovenliness. How could this ever happen?” he asked.

The head of Russia’s investigative committee, which handles major crimes, said the fire alarm system in the mall had been out of order since 19 March and a security guard had not turned on the public address system to warn people to evacuate the building.

The committee said earlier it was trying to bring in the mall’s owner for questioning.

“Serious violations [of the law] took place when the mall was being built and when it was functioning. The fire exits were blocked,” Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for the committee, said on Monday.

Four people have been detained, including two employees of the firm that services the mall’s fire alarm.

Emergency services said they had extinguished the fire, but later said it had reignited in places and that rescuers were struggling to recover bodies because the building’s top floor had collapsed. It was unclear on Tuesday whether any people were still unaccounted for.

The health minister, Veronika Skvortsova, said at the scene that 13 people were in hospital, including an 11-year-old boy in a serious condition. Russian media said the boy had leaped from a window and that both his parents had been killed.

Officials said many of the victims would be identifiable by only DNA testing. An unofficial list of those missing, circulating in Russian media, included more than 20 children, some as young as five.

News reports on state-run television Monday said young children had called relatives from the burning shopping centre. “Tell my mother that I loved her,” one young girl told her aunt, according to the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. “”Tell everyone that I loved them.”

“We are burning,” another young woman wrote on the social network VK. “This may be goodbye.”

The fire was the deadliest since a club in the Siberian city of Perm burned down in 2009, killing 156. </s> Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday visited the scene of a fire in a shopping mall that killed at least 64 people, and hit out at “criminal negligence” which he said was to blame for the high death toll. Investigators looking into a fire, one of the deadliest in Russia since the break-up of the Soviet Union, said fire exits at the mall had been illegally blocked and the fire alarm system had not functioned properly.

The fire swept through the upper floors of the Winter Cherry shopping centre in the city of Kemerovo, where a cinema complex and children’s play area were located, on Sunday afternoon.

Dozens of children were feared to be among the dead in the tragedy in Kemerovo, a coal-producing region about 3,600 km (2,200 miles) east of Moscow. As well as grief, the fire has stirred public anger about apparent failures in fire safety standards at the mall.

Putin, re-elected last weekend, arrived at the scene on Tuesday and laid flowers at a makeshift memorial to the victims of the fire.

“What’s happening here? This isn’t war, it’s not a spontaneous methane outburst. People came to relax, children. We’re talking about demography and losing so many people,” Putin said in a meeting with ministers in Kemerovo.

“Why? Because of some criminal negligence, because of slovenliness. How could this ever happen?” Putin asked.

The head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, which handles major crimes, said the fire alarm system in the mall had been out of order since March 19 and a security guard had not turned on the public address system to warn people to evacuate the building.

The committee said earlier it was trying to bring in the mall’s owner for questioning.

“Serious violations (of the law) took place when the mall was being built and when it was functioning. The fire exits were blocked,” Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for the committee, said in a statement on Monday.

Four people have already been detained, including two employees of the firm that services the mall’s fire alarm.

Emergency services said they had extinguished the fire, but later said it had re-ignited in places and that rescuers were struggling to recover bodies because the building’s top floor had collapsed.

It was unclear whether any people were still unaccounted for.

Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said from the scene that 13 people were in hospital, including an 11-year-old boy in a serious condition. Russian media said the boy had leapt from a window and that both his parents had been killed.

Many of the victims will only be identifiable by DNA testing, officials said.

An unofficial list of those missing circulating on Russian media included more than 20 children, some as young as five.

Mobile phone messages sent from one of those on the list, 13-year-old Maria Moroz, and published by Russian media, said: “We are burning. I love you all. This is perhaps farewell.”

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App </s> MOSCOW — With the fire alarms silent and staff reportedly nowhere to be seen, a fire at a shopping mall packed with children and their parents on the first weekend of the school recess killed 64 people in Russia’s Siberia.

The fire at the Winter Cherry mall in Kemerovo, a city about 1,900 miles east of Moscow, was extinguished by Monday morning after burning through the night. Firefighters were still recovering bodies as parts of the buildings were still smoldering. Some of the dead were found inside a cinema, which one witness said had been locked shut.

Investigators said Monday that 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 were bringing flowers, candles and stuffed animals 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, Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov told a televised briefing. Six of the bodies have not yet been recovered. Puchkov would not immediately say how many of the victims were children as only 17 people have been identified.

Twelve people have been hospitalized. Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova, who visited the Keremovo hospital where the victims were receiving treatment, said on Russian state television that the patient in the gravest condition is an 11-year-old boy who jumped out of a window from the fourth floor. The boy’s parents and younger sister died in the fire, Skvortsova said.

Some 200 animals are also believed to have died in the mall’s petting zoo. The zoo’s manager told the Tass news agency that the animals included rabbits, turtles, pigs, goats and rodents.

Russia’s top investigative body said Monday afternoon that they are searching for a security officer who appears to have turned off the PA system when he received a call about the blaze.

Four people have been detained in connection with the deadly, fire including one of the mall’s tenants. The investigators did not give the cause of the fire but said they have obtained evidence proving “flagrant violations” that could have contributed to the heavy loss of life, including the fact that the fire escapes were blocked.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday it was too early to draw conclusions about whether local officials failed in Kemerovo.

Witness testimony indicated that the fire alarm did not go off and that staff did not arrange for the evacuation at the shopping mall, which was converted from a former confectionery factory in 2013.

Winter Cherry was one of Kemerovo’s most popular entertainment centers for children, with its own indoor skating rink, petting zoo and trampolines. Kemerovo residents said the mall was packed with children and their parents.

The Ekho Mosvky radio station on Monday quoted witnesses who said the fire alarm did not go off and that the mall’s staff did not organize the evacuation.

Anna Zarechneva who was on the top floor where the fire started, watching a movie with her husband and son, said they only found out about the fire when a man ran into the theater shouting.

“We didn’t hear the fire alarm, they even didn’t turn on the light during the show,” she said. “That movie could have been the last for us, I’ve only just realized that.”

Alexander Lillevyali lost three daughters, 11-year-old twins and a 5-year-old, who were in a cinema hall on the top floor watching a cartoon.

Lillevyali told the Meduza news website that one of his daughters called him, saying that they could smell the smoke but could not get out because the door was locked.

“I was shouting into the phone, telling her to get out but there was nothing I could do — the fire was in front of me,” he said.

The Prosecutor General’s Office on Monday ordered all shopping malls in Russia to be checked for fire safety features.

Russian companies routinely complain about excessive checks from various government agencies, which often abuse elaborate rules and regulations to pressure businesses. As a result, many companies prefer to pay bribes instead of complying with outdated and excessive regulations, including fire safety rules. </s> Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said the shopping mall fire that claimed 64 lives, including those of 41 children, was caused by “criminal negligence” and all those responsible for it would be punished.

The horrific fire started on the top floor of the four-storey Winter Cherry shopping mall on Sunday in Kemerovo, located in southern Siberia around 3,000 km east of Moscow. Most of the victims were children as the mall’s shops, cinema and bowling alley were packed due to school holidays.

Visiting the scene in Kemerovo, Putin berated “sloppiness” and told relatives of the victims that there would be a thorough investigation into the incident and those responsible would be punished, TASS news agency reported.

“A 100-member investigative group is working here, headed by the Investigative Committee chief. Rest assured, all those responsible will be punished,” he said.

The inferno engulfed a children’s trampoline room and a cinema hall on the fourth floor. Russia’s Investigative Committee (ICR) in a statement cited “serious violations” and said a fire safety technician at the complex “switched off the alarm system” after being alerted about the fire.

It said a criminal investigation into the cause of the fire had begun, although reports suggested that it could have been started by a child misusing a cigarette lighter or malfunctioning electrical wires.

Out of 64 bodies, 25 were identified which included 13 children, TASS reported.

“The bodies of 13 children who died in the fire have been identified,” Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said. She also said that experts started DNA tests required for identifying the bodies of those who died in the deadly inferno.

An official in the emergency services said that another 68 people were injured and poisoned with combustion products. Putin visited the injured in Kemerovo’s regional hospital.

Interfax news agency reported that some 300 people gathered outside the local government headquarters demanding the dismissal of authorities.

“What is happening here?”, the Russian President said after laying a wreath at the scene. “This is no battle or an unexpected methane outburst in a mine.”

“People, children came to relax. We are talking about demography and are losing so many people because of what? Because of criminal negligence, sloppiness,” he said. Five people were arrested including the official suspected of deactivating the public address system.

The Kemerovo region will observe three days of mourning starting on Tuesday.

“The mourning will last for three days from March 27 to 29. The corresponding order was signed by Governor Aman Tuleyev. The state flags of the Russian Federation and the flags of the region will be lowered on the whole territory of the Kemerovo region,” an official statement said.

All institutions, organisations, TV and radio companies were asked to cancel recreational activities.

Meanwhile, the head of the city’s fire department Sergei Yakovlev said that the blaze had spread via flammable thermal insulation that complicated the process of extinguishing the inferno.
Witnesses and Russia's Investigative Committee say the Winter Cherry complex's exits were blocked and there were no alarms during the disaster.