Blocked fire exits, a shut-down alarm system, and “glaring violations” of safety rules exacerbated the human toll of a fire that swept through 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 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.”
The statement came after Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov said that 64 people were killed by the fire in Kemerovo, about 3,000 kilometers east of Moscow. The official toll late on March 25 had been below 10, but it climbed as firefighters battled the blaze and worked their way through the shopping center.
Flames and smoke erupted anew at the mall on March 26, but Puchkov told journalists that 64 was the final death toll. Ten of the 44 people who sought medical treatment remained hospitalized, Petrenko said.
Out of 25 victims whose bodies have been identified, 13 are children, the emergency officials said. The youngest fire victims were only five, the TASS news agency reported.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately known and authorities launched a criminal investigation, the Investigative Committee said.
Putin’s response
“We talk about demography and we are losing so many people – why? Because of criminal negligence, slovenliness,” Putin said. “How could this have happened?”
“We can’t afford to be losing Russians like this!”
WOW! This man is a true patriot. No wonder Russians have been voting for him over and over again… this is the modern day hero Europe has been looking for. Trump turned out to be a total cuckold fag and Putin just grows to be more and more COOL!
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