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